A worthy format for a book

The Art Arsenal Gallery has been filled with books. May 28 through June 1 it hosted the First International Festival “Book Arsenal.” Over 100 Ukrainian publishers presented their products there. However, this was a kind of symbiosis of text, graphics, media, and music rather than simply a fair-exhibit. The books were presented in a variety of ways: on the stands of Ukrainian publishing houses, through the presentations of famous writers, publishers, and journalists, as well as in poetic performances. Incidentally, there was a big international component, as the event was attended by over 20 famous writers, journalists, and publishers, known in Europe and beyond. Thus, visitors could attend the presentation of the new translation of the Nobel Prize winner Herta Mueller’s book, Atemschaukel (Everything I Possess I Carry With Me), talk to the star of French cinema Philippe Labro or the cult German photographer and writer Miron Zownir, or attend a lecture of the young star of Swedish literature Jonas Hassen Khemiri. The organizers of Book Arsenal also paid attention to the needs and interests of the youngest Ukrainians. The program included a master class by the French art expert Francoise Barbe-Gall “How to speak with children about art?”

“The space of the Art Arsenal obliges one to do something grandiose. Grand arches inspire grandiose projects,” general director of the National Cultural-Artistic and Museum Complex Art Arsenal Natalia Zabolotna said at the launch of the exhibit, “Hopefully, this festival will become a worthy ground for book promotion, and later reorient the map of book festivals, and we will be able to bring books to the pedestal they deserve.”

To some extent the organizers have succeeded in their plans. The participants of the exhibit noted the festival’s high standards in terms of organization and the unique atmosphere of the Arsenal building. “After two days of operating, we can assert that Book Arsenal was successful,” curator of the festival Olha Zhuk admitted, “Above all the reason for this is that many visitors have come to see the exhibit. Eight to ten thousand people have come to the event in a two-day period. Many parents brought their children, and we organized some events for them. For example, while we were talking shop, a real Mumintroll was entertaining the children. On the whole, we are satisfied with the work of Book Arsenal, we have drawn some conclusions on what has been effective and what has not, and we will use this experience in the future. Hopefully, Book Arsenal will give an impetus to the development of Ukrainian book publishing, because first of all we are a presentation ground for publishing houses — we try to stimulate them with the help of presentations of international publishers and various foundations.”

“Of course, such festivals, forums, and fairs help to promote books,” Volodymyr Lys said, “Recently I attended some other exhibits: the Books of Great Volhynia in Lutsk, Ukrainian Book in Odesa. What can I say? These events need to be strongly promoted. And Ukrainian books should be assisted in a creative and dedicated manner, like this is being done by the Coronation of the Word Contest. Besides, Ukrainian mass media should apparently pay more attention to book publishing (feature reviews and interviews with writers), like it is being done by Den and some other periodicals. In fact this is a common practice for American and British mass media.”

Book Arsenal also proved that Ukrainians, especially young ones, have a growing interest in highbrow books and publishing houses have enough publications to offer. One could see many high-quality publications on their stands, embracing a variety of topics, from history to painting and from culture to politics. “Our publishing house considers that its mission is to fill the gaps in both Ukrainian and the world history, which were left in the minds of Ukrainians by Soviet historiography. We publish the works of reputed historians who have worked in foreign archives, to which our scholars did not have access for a long time, as well as opinion journalism works of an international level. Our target audience are intellectuals and I must say there is such audience in Ukraine,” says the head of the buyers’ office of the ESEM Media Books Andrii Bily.

The Bohdana Publishing House has been presenting a unique project for several years in succession: its editors have developed a guidebook All Ukraine. The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna once said that Ukrainians are standing on the threshold of a great happiness of loving their country. But you can’t love things you don’t know. To prompt the society to learn, Den started a column Small Great Towns/Villages of Ukraine and The Route No. 1. The Bohdana Publishers’ guide will also help people learn more about our country.

The publishing house’s deputy head Svitlana Khikhlushko told The Day that for the first time Ukrainian book publishers have included in their guides (each one is dedicated to a particular region of the country) a comparative table of the events of world history and our past, in order to help everyone understand that Ukrainian history is no less interesting that the history of France or Great Britain. And the greatest innovation of the All Ukraine guide is that they provide GPS coordinates that help people find interesting sites. “When we started to work on the project All Ukraine we did not even expect that it would be so interesting. Therefore I advise everyone to leave their nests. Wherever you live in Ukraine, you will be sure to find a living legend two hours away,” Khikhlushko said.

Children’s literature also attracted the people’s attention: with their beautiful illustrations the books were true pieces of art. Despite the lack of government support (according to the publishers, they hardly receive any) modern Ukrainian books are like national treasures, owing to the devotion of several individuals. “All the books of ESEM Media Books are published with cash. This is a kind of spiritual exploit that people, with no assistance from the state, find the money to publish not mass, but important and needed literature,” Bily says.

This year Ukraine marks the 450th anniversary of the creation of the Peresopnytsia Gospels — the first handwritten four Gospels translated into Old Ukrainian. Incidentally, the translation into Old Ukrainian meant that our language was admitted by the church as a language of the Holy Liturgy. It is also a real masterpiece of book art of the mid-16th century. The Gospels are also a national symbol on which Ukrainian presidents take the oath of office. Historian Orest Subtelny once aptly noted that the path to national awareness has been paved with books. So, within the framework of the festival the book Peresopnytsia Gospels. Origins and the Present Day (published by ADEF-Ukraina) was launched. The facsimile copy of the holy book was initiated by Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk) back in 1995. His death put the initiative on hold. In 2008 the project was realized with the assistance of Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan). And recently the aforesaid publication has been printed. Peresopnytsia Gospels. Origins and the Present Day is a smaller copy of the Peresopnytsia Gospels, which carries the transliteration of the text and its translation into modern Ukrainian. In other words, now everyone will be able to read the book, which previously was only accessible to specialists. According to the head of the publishing house Ihor Shpak, the next step will be to publish the materials of the studies carried out by Ukrainian scholars on this national monument, and the story about the preparation work on the facsimile publication — and the patrons will be honored. Now the book’s electronic version will be available at the famous British Library where the most important manuscripts are preserved; later it will be presented in Canada and the US.

Den has made a kind of present for the residents of Kyiv on Kyiv’s Day, distributing its Friday issue among the visitors of the Art Arsenal free of charge. This caused a kind of pandemonium near our stand. The crowd mostly included people who knew little about The Day’s Library. However, there were also many devoted readers. For example, teacher Dmytro Herasymenko came to buy Ukraina Incognita and Two Rus’es. He said: “It is not for me, it is a birthday present for my friend. Is there a better present for a book lover than a book? All the more so, Ukraina Incognita and Two Rus’es are already classics.” And Emilia Marchevska, formerly a French teacher, now retired, came to the festival in order to buy our Polish edition of War and Peace. She bought two copies at once, because she was going to see her family in Poland. “Surely, I’m taking pysankas and pepper vodka with me. But I also want to bring an intellectual present to them, to show them Ukraine. Poles frequently emphasize that they are our friends. And War and Peace is proof that we know much about them, about their history, and our common history as well — that we understand them.” So, we are taking small steps in understanding and re-conciliation both within our country and abroad.