According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, the opening of the 14th International Book Arsenal Festival. The National Cultural, Art, and Museum Complex “Mystetskyi Arsenal.” May 28, 2026 | Photo: Interfax-Ukraine / Oleksandr Zubko
The 15th International Book Arsenal Festival will take place May 27–30, 2027, in Kyiv, according to the PR & Communication Department of the Art Arsenal.
This year, the 14th Book Arsenal, which concluded on Sunday, took place for the fourth time amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The festival program featured a record number of events since 2022, taking place simultaneously across several stages and venues: the Main Stage, Literary Stage, Street Stage, Authors’ Stage, Discussion Stage, Publishing Stage, the Literary Garden, the Lecture Hall, BookLab, and the Teen Space. In total, there were over 240 events—public discussions, lectures, presentations, author and poetry readings, talks, workshops, musical events, performances, and book signings. Due to air raid alerts and safety concerns, several events on the program were canceled or shortened, while others took place in shelters in an informal setting.
Despite the air raid alerts that interrupted the festival’s proceedings and numerous warnings of potential large-scale Russian shelling during those days, the 14th Book Arsenal attracted 27,000 visitors. A total of 111 major and 25 small publishing houses, the book.ua bookstore, as well as military and volunteer initiatives, presented their booths. 12 graphic artists presented their works at the Illustrators’ Fair. The venue also hosted 15 exhibition projects.
“We are delighted that we managed to carry out practically everything we had planned. Air raid alerts, of course, caused us some trouble and disrupted a number of important events. But we are aware that this is part of organizing a festival during wartime, and we are grateful to all our participants and visitors who quickly and calmly took shelter and, after the all-clear, returned and continued the festival again and again. This ability to live and work despite everything is inspiring,” noted Olesia Ostrovska-Lyuta, General Director of the Art Arsenal.
According to Yulia Kozlovets, Director of the International Festival, the “Book Arsenal” theme became the common language of the forum’s participants and guests.
“The best confirmation of a theme’s relevance is when it ceases to be a festival slogan and becomes the language in which visitors speak to one another.
This year, the metaphor ‘Carry Your Freedom’ resonated exactly like that. What is particularly valuable is that numerous military and veteran initiatives, charity events, and volunteer projects are now naturally integrated into the festival—not as a separate program, but as part of our shared reality. “The Book Arsenal doesn’t provide simple answers, but it creates a space for meetings and conversations that deepen our understanding of our own experiences, strengthen connections between people, and give us a little more strength to keep living and doing our work,” Kozlovets emphasized.
Over 230 guests took part in Book Arsenal events. The festival featured voices of Ukrainian and international guests from Poland, France, the U.S., Canada, Germany, Moldova, Belgium, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and the U.K.
This year marked the third edition of the Book Arsenal Fellowship Program—a professional initiative that brought eight foreign publishers, agents, and rights managers from the Czech Republic, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Egypt, Georgia, and Peru to the festival. As part of this program, 115 B2B (Business to Business – IF-U) meetings took place, involving 31 publishing houses and 5 literary and graphic agencies.
Over 150 volunteers joined the Book Arsenal team.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1172954.html
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, the 14th international “Book Arsenal” festival began in Kyiv on Thursday, bringing together over 150 participants from the book market, authors, publishers, artists, and intellectuals from Ukraine and abroad, reports a journalist from the “Culture” department of Interfax-Ukraine.
Over the course of four days, more than 240 events—including discussions, public talks, lectures, readings, workshops, presentations of new books, and meetings with authors—will take place at the Art Arsenal. In addition to the literary program, the organizers have also prepared musical and performance components for the festival.
This year’s artistic component of the “Book Arsenal” features 15 exhibition projects that combine contemporary art, documentary film, archival practices, and reflections on the Ukrainian experience of war.
The focus theme of this year’s festival, “Carry Your Freedom,” is curated by Ukrainian journalist, human rights activist, military serviceman, and former prisoner of war Maksym Butkevych.
Also returning to the festival this year is the “Writer’s Program,” curated by Andriy Lyubka, a Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemember, volunteer, poet, prose writer, and translator.
In an exclusive comment to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture Tetyana Berezhna said that despite the heavy workload associated with her government duties, she continues to read fiction regularly, as she considers it essential for strategic thinking.
“I am absolutely convinced that in order to develop visionary skills and think strategically, we need to read a great deal of both fiction and other literature,” Berezhna said.
According to her, among the books that have made the greatest impression on her recently are “Against Cultural Amnesia” by Vira Ageyeva and the essays of Yuri Shevelov, edited by Yevgen Stasinevich.
The minister also mentioned that she is currently reading children’s books with her five-month-old daughter. Separately, she advised Ukrainians to pay attention to the poetry of Bohdan-Ihor Antonych to support their morale and mental health.
“Book Arsenal” is one of the largest international literary and arts festivals in Eastern Europe, bringing together Ukrainian and foreign authors, publishers, intellectuals, artists, and public figures every year. The festival was founded in 2011.
After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, “Book Arsenal” became one of the key platforms for discussions on culture, memory, war, and Ukrainian identity.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1171814.html
