“Today’s wars are won by superior intellect, not weapons”

The 21st International Publishers’ Forum ended in Lviv on September 14. Over four days, it saw hundreds of literary and literature-linked events involving over 400 authors from Ukraine and 25 foreign countries. In addition, the Palace of Arts hosted a book fair, where everyone could find a book to their taste. Despite the difficult situation in the country, the Ukrainians still want to read, and demand quality lecture at that.

Traditionally, Den presented its new products at the forum, as much as five this year. They were Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 in Ukrainian, Russian, and English, photo album People of the Maidan: a Chronicle and a new edition of Klara Gudzyk’s Apocrypha. These and other publications of Den’s Library, as well as postcards, T-shirts and copies of Route No. 1 magazine were available to all comers at our stand at the Palace of Arts. There were a lot of them. Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 was the best seller, as visitors said that it was now extremely relevant for all of us. Remarkably, people bought its copies for themselves and as gifts to friends and relatives. The English version was bought for foreign friends. The first English-language Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 went to journalist Anita Hrabska who bought it for her German friend. “I plan to buy English-language copies of it to give to my friends in Germany and those foreigners who are interested in what is really happening in our country. We must learn to better present our country abroad, and these books will be useful in this work,” she said. By the way, Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 won the personal award of jury chairman Bohdan Morklianyk at the forum.

Photo by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day

Even before the presentation of our books, it was crowded at Den’s stand. Our regular readers were coming with a pre-compiled list of planned purchases. There were those who were attracted by the stylishly designed stand, camouflaged in blue and yellow, they came closer and went away with new books. When Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna visited the stand, we immediately saw an improvised autograph session and a kind of debating society meeting there, involving those who make the paper and those for whom it is made.

“UKRAINIAN ‘OPTICS’ IN OTHER LANGUAGES IS VERY IMPORTANT”

“When the first historical book from Den’s Library was published, and thousands of people had an opportunity not to cut these articles about Ukrainian history from the newspaper, but read them all under one cover, I felt happy, both as a reader of the newspaper Den/The Day, and as a person who wants to know his history,” says Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky, Ukrainian prose writer, literary critic, opinion journalist, and public figure. “At that time I thought that it would be a precedent, one book. But suddenly a whole set of wonderful texts emerged. No newspaper in Ukraine has ever done anything like this. Again Den/The Day with its publishing project took only its niche.”

Slaboshpytsky is standing near Den’s stand. There are new publications, stylish T-shirts with topical pictures created by our artists Iryna Zelenko and Anna Havryliuk. Slaboshpytsky takes the new edition of the book Klara Gudzyk’s Apocrypha: “I remember her publications about the situation with denominations in Ukraine. This is a book by James Mace. I had the luck to know him personally. I keep saying at every presentation: these books are priceless. Den is priceless, because among other things it is publishing these books. These days it is very important to publish books on Ukrainian history in Russian and English, of course, besides Ukrainian.

READING, ANALYZING, AND DISCUSSING TOGETHER… / Photo by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day

“I was very glad when Den started to publish its English-language digest The Day. We have illusions that the world knows everything about us, hears everything we say, and looks at everything with our own eyes. We are living in the time of information society, but some people think that we are still on the stage of technological one. Therefore it is important to have information about Ukraine, so to say, Ukrainian ‘optics’ in other languages. The world will know about us as much as we tell it about us in different languages. And English is one of world languages. I know that this is hard, especially in terms of finances, this is a non-commercial project, but it is large-scale and important. The Day fulfills the role of the state in this respect.”

Volodymyr Ovsiichuk, Ukrainian art critic, Merited Worker of Art of Ukraine, pedagogue, Doctor in Art History, professor was among the special visitors of our stand. At the age of 90 he continues to teach at the Lviv National Academy of Arts. On our stand he took interest in the book The Power of the Soft Sign, and eventually Den’s team decided to present the legend of Ukrainian art criticism with a volume. The professor was very glad to receive such an unexpected present. “I very much respect Larysa Ivshyna, she is a wise woman. I read Den on a regular basis; the employees of the news stall leave a fresh issue for me every time. This is an incredible newspaper. It enhances a lot of versatile material; it is very well compiled and reaches its reader. As for the books, they are extremely useful and interesting. I take some of the materials for myself and for the students, for my lectures. This is important,” Ovsiichuk said.

“EVERY BOOK IS A DISCOVERY”

So many people came to the presentation of our new publications to the Mirror Hall of the Potocki Palace that there was no free chair; people were standing even in the hallways and doorways. Some of them said that they had come earlier to take the chair, because “there are full-houses at Den’s presentations every year.”

“For 18 years the newspaper has been supplying the intellectual oxygen to the country. From Den we take the most powerful weapons in the world. This is knowledge, which will never be destroyed either by tanks, or Grads,” said Iryna Kliuchkovska, Director of the National University of Lviv Polytechnic’s International Institute for Education, Culture and Links with the Diaspora, a long-time friend and partner of the newspaper, who moderated the meeting.

Presenting the photo album People of the Maidan: a Chronicle, the editor of Den/The Day’s website Artem Zhukov, one of the compilers of the publication, said, “In fact we did not set a goal of showing the shocking scenes of these events. The album has photos of all the key events, in Hrushevsky and Instytutska streets. They are dramatic, tragic, but not terrible. Because that was not our goal. A colleague wrote to me on a social media, ‘What is the originality of publishing a photo album about the Maidan now? Today everyone can publish a book about these events, interpreting them in their own ways, manipulate, and get commercial bonuses.’ I gave a simple answer: our album is different.” Artem emphasized that while he was working on the album, he understood that the level of our photo journalists is very high and it can compete with the world one. The number of sold photo albums during the days of the forum confirmed this.

Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovy came to the presentation of Den/The Day’s new publications as well. “Den is a very high standard. There you can read about today’s situation, learn our history better. This is a wise newspaper. Unfortunately, we are lacking such newspapers in our country, which is why I would like Den to have a larger pressrun, so that the newspaper could be on the desks of all thinking people of Ukraine. There is war in Ukraine, and many people would say: people don’t want to read when there is such a situation in the country. This is wrong. It is not the weapon that wins today, but the intellect. Therefore we need to read a lot. Den is also precious because it publishes very powerful books, guideline books. Den’s Library is very powerful; I have all the books from it. And every new publication is a discovery,” Andrii Sadovy said and promised to buy many books for the Lviv Library.

Our readers who did not visit our stand in Lviv can order all the books on Den’s website and share their impressions from what they have read.