Have you been there?

The 7th International Book Fair “Book World 2005,” held at Kyiv’s Sportyvny expo center of the National University of Physical Education and Sport of Ukraine on Nov. 10 to 13, gathered about 300 publishers from Ukraine, the UK, Latvia, Germany, Poland, Russia, the US, Finland, and France. Yet, despite the international nature of “Book World 2005,” Ukraine topped the bill. This year about 100 events were held as part of the fair, including presentations, round tables, seminars, and meetings with authors. Debates pivoted not only around literature but politics. Incidentally, politicians, such as former presidential chief of staff Oleksandr Zinchenko and ex-vice-premier Mykola Tomenko, who delivered fiery and inspired speeches at a similar discussion last year (during the Orange Revolution), were conspicuous by their absence at the forum’s most high-profile roundtable “Echo of the Maidan,” which discussed the topic “Who Elects Culture?” Leonid Filkenstein, editor-in-chief of the Fact publishing house, told the forum that last year “there were frantic expectations. People discussed how to rebuild Ukrainian culture.” He recalled an audience that waved orange ribbons. This time the house was half-empty. The one consoling factor is that there are many more Ukrainian books in Ukraine now and trade shows are packed. There was a lot of talking and many autograph sessions. Here and there literary arguments among visitors could be observed.

This year The Day took an active part in the fair by exhibiting the prize-winning works of the “Photo Day 2005” competition and exhibit of graphic works “21st- Century Moods” by our colleague Yevhenia Vasylchenko.

One of the most eagerly awaited events was a meeting with The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna and the presentation of two new books from the newspaper’s Library Series: The Apocrypha of Klara Gudzyk and Day and Eternity of James Mace. The Day is a regular informational partner of this book fair. Edwin Zadorozhny, general manager of the expo company Medwin and organizer of the fair, attended The Day readers’ conference and said that our newspaper may be the only national publication that actively supports this event. “We find it hard to put across to people that our exposition offers books you cannot find elsewhere,” Zadorozhny noted, thanking our newspaper’s editors for their cooperation.

“Journalists must try hard to make as many people as possible understand why they need rational information,” Ms. Ivshyna said at the beginning of her speech to a numerous and motley crowd at the expo center. This phrase characterizes the meeting’s overall mood. Owing to its public outreach actions and presentations, Den is especially popular in the regions. Until now, The Day’s actions have been designed for specific (mostly academic) audiences. The newspaper’s participation in the book fair was remarkable in that it drew people from various walks of life, such as students, literary critics, translators, etc. This time there was a bilateral contact, not just a solo show by The Day. The first book to be presented, Day and Eternity of James Mace, is a monument of sorts to the prominent scholar, contributor to The Day, and university professor James Mace, an American who revealed to the world the terrible truth about the 1932-1933 manmade famine in Ukraine. The second book, The Apocrypha of Klara Gudzyk, written by our colleague Klara Gudzyk, who is the favorite author of many contemporary intellectuals, contains articles not only on religion but also philosophy, ecology, and other subjects. As Ms. Ivshyna noted, The Day’s Library Series is a publishing project aimed at the thinking reader and people who strive to know the history of this country. The first book, Ukraina Incognita, is a study of little-known but pivotal questions of Ukrainian history. The second book, Dvi Rusi, spotlights the history of Ukrainian-Russian relations. The third, Wars and Peace, explores Ukrainian-Polish relations. “I call our book project a supplement to the Ukrainian ‘passport’,” Ms. Ivshyna pointed out.

The two books issued this year were analyzed by Oleksiy Khyzhniakov and Alina Fogel, undergraduates at Kyiv Polytechnic University’s Publishing and Printing Institute, who attended The Day’s readers’ conference together with their teacher and fellow students. The students made a thorough study of their subject, finding more than 1,500 Internet links to Ms. Gudzyk. Their speeches can be called full-fledged co-authored reports. As Khyzhniakov confessed, he hasn’t finished reading Day and Eternity of James Mace but would never lend it to someone else before finishing it. Journalist and author Natalia Dziubenko-Mace, James Mace’s widow, advised Khyzhniakov to extend his study to the English version of the book.

“It is an invaluable manual for those who want to know good Harvard English. I am grateful to The Day’s editors for publishing this book. I know how difficult it is to expect today’s journalists to show such profound solidarity,” Ms. Dziubenko-Mace noted. Ms. Gudzyk in turn complemented Alina Fogel’s report by answering questions from members of the audience, who wanted to know everything: how Gudzyk became a journalist, why she chose to write on religion, etc. One can find all the answers in the book The Apocrypha of Klara Gudzyk. Questions to The Day’s editor-in-chief were about future book projects. There were also proposals. For example, Kyiv Mohyla Academy student Daryna Pyrohova admitted that she is mostly interested in The Day’s column “Small Great Villages of Ukraine,” and asked if it would be possible to publish all the newspaper articles from this rubric as a separate book. “We in Ukraine still have so many undiscovered treasures,” said Ms. Ivshyna, “that if we knew and felt them all, we would live a much happier life.” One day the newspaper may take Pyrohova up on her suggestion.

Daryna has been reading The Day since she was 13 years old, thanks to her mother Valentyna, who lives in Hadiach, Poltava oblast. Now that she is a Kyiv Mohyla Academy student, her parents continue to subscribe to The Day. Ms. Ivshyna also told the audience about the newspaper’s book-publishing plans. “I would love to frame a concept of a book on Ukrainian-Turkish relations. As joint values unite the world much tighter than tribal kinship, we have so many books devoted to relations between Ukraine and its close and remote neighbors,” Ms. Ivshyna said. Oleksandr Afonin, president of the Association of Publishers and Book Agents, put the finishing touches to the discussion by asserting that “ The Day’s projects never fail because this newspaper gives every reader a chance to understand and mull things over.”