Ukrainian books in Minsk
Minsk hosts the 16th International Book Fair “Books of Belarus 2009”
Ukrainian publishers have managed to take part in the prestigious international book fair in Minsk, despite the fact that Ukraine’s budget expenditures on the support of our country’s participation in international exhibits have been reduced to one-tenth of the previous amount.
In spite of the economic crisis, none of the countries that previously agreed to take part in the exhibit has withdrawn. This year the publishers from 20 countries are demonstrating their production. First-time participants include Hungary, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, and Iran. This year’s honorable guest and the main participant of the exhibit is the Republic of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the fourth country — after Russia, Ukraine, and Israel—that has received this high status at the Belarusian Book Fair.
“Ukraine utilizes exhibits to popularize Ukrainian books abroad and advance them on the international market,” explained Anatolii Murakhovsky, acting head of the State Television and Radio Committee. “Here Belarus is our special strategic partner because a sizeable Ukrainian community, which is interested in new books from Ukraine and requires Ukrainian-language books, lives there. Each year we presented our books at the International Book Exhibit in Minsk with limited funding. Because this event is so important for the development of contacts between our countries, creating a positive image of Ukraine, and popularizing home literature and culture, the State Television and Radio Committee asked Ukrainian publishers to undertake the expenses for the trip and dispatch their representatives to Minsk. Regarding exhibition space, a square meter costs here €90. We have agreed with Belarus’ Ministry of Information that we will receive 16 square meters for our national exposition in exchange for the same space, free of charge, for the Belarusian exhibit at the Fifth Kyiv International Book Fair.”
Ukraine’s national stand consists of 200 books, published by Ukrainian publishing houses in 2008. Firstly, these are books published in the framework of the budget-sponsored Ukrainian Book Program in 2006-08 and publications submitted for the exhibit by publishing houses and organizations from all over Ukraine. The books will be displayed in the following sections: “Books for Children and Youth,” “Books by Classical Ukrainian Writers and Winners of the National Taras Shevchenko Prize,” “Ukrainian Translations of Books by Classical Foreign Writers,” “Popular Science,” “Reference Books (encyclopedias, reference books, and dictionaries),” “Foreign-Language Books and Books in Minority Languages.”
Ukraine wants to surprise the participants of the exhibit with a number of books, including, among others: the well-known Peterburgskie Povesti (St. Petersburg Stories) by Mykola Hohol (Nikolai Gogol), wonderfully illustrated by Yurii Charyshnikov and published by Hrani-T Publishing House, Kataloh vydan Pochaivskoho ta Univskoho monastyriv (Catalogue of Publications by the Pochaiv and Univ Monasteries) published by the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Publishing House, Ukrainskyi litopys vbrannia (Ukrainian Chronicle of Costume), Istoriia Kyievo-Pecherskoi lavry (History of the Kyiv Cave Monastery) by the Mystetstvo Publishing House, Pershyi ikonopysets Kyivskoi Rusi – Alipii (Alipii, the First Icon Painter of Kyivan Rus) by the Nash Chas Publishing House, and Albom Mykoly Storozhenko (The Album of Mykola Storozhenko) by the Dnipro Publishing House.
The official delegation from Ukraine includes representatives of national publishing houses and organizations, including the Kartohrafia State Research and Production Company, Lichnosti Publishing House, Znannia Publishing House, and the editors of the magazine Kraina znan.
“The program of the exhibit includes numerous interesting events, such as the roundtable ‘Brotherhood: Relations of the CIS Countries via Translation’,” said Valentina Babyliulko, head of the Ukrainian delegation and chairman of the Department for Publishing and Press at the State Television and Radio Committee. “We are presenting the Ukrainian school of translation with such books as Anthology of Ukrainian Literature translated into English by Virliana Tkach and Wanda Phipps, In Different Light (V inshomu svitli) published by the Lviv Sribne Slovo Publishing House, and Aleksandr Pushkin’s Yevgeniy Onegin (Eugene Onegin) by the Uspikh and Kariera Publishing House (Maksym Rylsky’s translation alongside the original). I think the participants of the discussion will be interested in the book Triada slovianskoi poezii (A Triad of Slavic Poetry) by the Kyiv-based Knyha Publishing House, which contains the poems by Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Aleksandr Pushkin, and Mikhail Lermontov. There were also other publications in the original language and their Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian translations.”
P.S. It is sad that the newspaper Den’ has not received an invitation from the State Television and Radio Committee to attend this respectable book forum. However, the books from The Day’s Library Series will be presented there. The Kartohrafia Company has given Den’ partnership support, for which we are sincerely grateful.
