Approximately 7 million hryvnias per year are currently allocated for programs to promote reading and support related projects in Ukraine, which does not meet the industry’s actual needs, said Oleksandra Koval, acting director of the Ukrainian Book Institute, in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“As for the activities of the Ukrainian Book Institute specifically, the main problem remains insufficient funding. We have about 7 million hryvnias per year for programs to promote reading and support related projects. This allows us to support only 15–20 projects across the country. For a country the size of Ukraine, this is extremely little,” Koval said.
According to her, real change in the field of reading requires not dozens, but thousands of events each year, which should be held in libraries, schools, communities, at festivals, and book fairs.
Koval emphasized that one of the key challenges remains Ukrainians’ access to books, especially in small towns and villages.
She also noted that the systematic updating of library collections should become an important focus of state policy.
“We are convinced that new books are the strongest draw for libraries. That is precisely why Ukraine needs a systematic update of its library collections. In my opinion, libraries should receive at least one million new books each year, and ideally—around three million copies,” said the head of the UIC.
According to her, only under such conditions will the changes be noticeable to readers across the country, particularly in small towns and villages.
As reported, Ukrainians have spent over 3.5 billion hryvnias on book purchases under state support programs since late 2021, and in 2026, the Translate Ukraine program plans to publish about 100 translations of Ukrainian books in 33 countries worldwide. Book piracy causes losses to the Ukrainian market amounting to hundreds of millions of hryvnias.
BOOKS, CULTURE, OLEXANDRA_KOVAL, READING, UKRAINIAN_INSTITUTE_OF_BOOKS
Related:
