On May 15, the International Book Fair in Warsaw began and will run until May 18. This year, South Korea was the guest of honor.

Ukraine is traditionally represented by a national stand organized by the Ukrainian Book Institute and a program of events. At the stand, visitors can purchase books from 25 publishers, see Ukrainian books translated into Polish, and meet participants of the Ukrainian program.

On the opening day, the stand was visited by Vasyl Bodnar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland, and Poland’s Minister of Culture, Anna Wróblewska.

“We are now talking about the power of the word — a power that comes from our authors and publishers, but also from our warriors and leadership. The power of the word plays a special role today, and I want everyone to feel how a country at war presents itself here in Warsaw — a city that helped millions of Ukrainians to escape, save their lives, find themselves, and support Ukraine,” said Vasyl Bodnar at the opening.

As part of the Ukrainian program in Warsaw, meetings with authors, presentations, and discussions will be held with participants including Iya Kiva, Marichka Paplauskaite, Tomasz Szereszen, Tanya Stus, Karina Savaryna, Olena Huseinova, Aneta Kaminska, Krzysztof Czyżewski, and Yulia Vus.

“Literary fairs are spaces for encounters. For readers — with new books and authors. For authors — with translators, publishers, and cultural managers. This environment gives rise to new connections and partnerships, ideas that later become projects. The task of the Ukrainian Book Institute is to support this process in every possible way,” commented Tetiana Petrenko, curator of the Ukrainian program in Warsaw.

The Ukrainian event program began with the discussion “The Ukrainian Language in Poland: Integration, Identity, and Cultural Heritage.” Participants included Pavlo Levchuk — linguist and research fellow at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences; Oleksandr Pustovyi — director of the Warsaw Saturday School; Vasyl Melnychuk — Third Secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Poland; and Tetiana Petrenko — literary critic and Head of PR at the Ukrainian Book Institute.

The discussion was moderated by Jana Stempniewicz, journalist at Polish Radio for Ukraine.

The full event program is available here: https://bit.ly/4k7jcIB

The Ukrainian stand, featuring new books from over 20 publishers, is located in the Marble Hall, stand № 136.

Admission to the fair is free.

Our partners: Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine / MFA of Ukraine, Embassy of Ukraine in Poland, Międzynarodowe Targi Książki w Warszawie, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Poland), Fundacja Historia i Kultura, Centrum Mieroszewskiego, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Poland), and the Borys Voznytsky Lviv National Art Gallery.