London Book Fair organizers have announced that Ukraine will be the Spotlight Country next month, reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
“A series of events featuring Ukrainian writers – appearing in person and virtually – will explore how Ukrainian writers have responded to the war; the role that books play in the fight against disinformation and for democracy; the impact of women’s voices; and writing from the front line,” Albanese tells me.
The special program was developed in partnership with the Ukrainian Book Institute, English PEN, the Publishers Association (PA), the International Publishers Association (IPA) and the British Council.
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The Russian invasion of Ukraine, begun in February 2022, has thrown the country’s publishing industry into disarray, according to PW’s Edward Nawotka. The Ukrainian Book Institute (UBI), which collects data on the industry, reports that the number of titles published in Ukraine dropped from 17,000 in 2021 to just under 9,000 in 2022.
“Since the start of the war, many companies moved some of their staff overseas, and several figures from the industry have been promoting the cause of Ukrainian publishing abroad,” Nawotka writes.
“The focus of most Ukrainian publishers is finding ways to cope with fundamental problems, like how to keep the lights and heat on following Russian air strikes,” he says.