THE 10th INTERNATIONAL BOOK ARSENAL FESTIVAL IS POSTPONED TILL 2021

Due to the emergency situation in the world caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus resulting in COVID-19, the Mystetskyi Arsenal won’t be able to hold the 10th International Book Arsenal Festival this year and postpones it till May 26-30, 2021.

However, this year, from May 19 to June 10, the online professional program aimed at strengthening the export opportunities of Ukrainian publishers and attracting foreign literary agents to translate Ukrainian books will be held by the Book Arsenal. The Ukrainian Literature Rights Now! Program includes meetings and workshops with foreign book experts and Ukrainian publishers, a series of lectures in English on Ukrainian literature, the Ukrainian book market, grant programs for translation of Ukrainian books into foreign languages, and a series of talks between Ukrainian and foreign publishers. For more information on the program please follow the link: https://cutt.ly/yyngOsy.

The Best Book Design Contest and the Antytvir Contest for Teenagers will be also held this year.

Earlier, it was reported that the International Book Arsenal Festival would be postponed till late August this year. The Book Arsenal Festival is an international event that hosts more than 100 foreign guests, more than 200 publishers and cultural institutions, and more than 55,000 visitors each year. The Ukrainian government has set criteria for easing quarantine restrictions but mass gatherings and border openings will not be possible soon.

“We are responsible for all our obligations to partners, participants, guests, and visitors of the Book Arsenal. Our team has invested a lot of time and effort in analyzing all the risks of the coming months, and it is now clear that in the uncertainty which hits the world due to the pandemic, holding a large-scale international event this year is too risky. Moreover, the event, which attracts tens of thousands of guests, visitors and involves active communication. So, we made a very difficult, but, in our opinion, the most appropriate decision – to postpone the 10th Book Arsenal Festival till the next year”, Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, the Mystetskyi Arsenal Director, says.

“The Book Arsenal has always been special because of the atmosphere that you, our participants and visitors, our volunteers and partners, create with us, the team. And we are devastated that we will not be able to see you within the walls of the Old Arsenal this year. But we are already waiting for the year 2021. And we will make every effort to preserve the best achievements of the curatorial team, and we also hope to preserve its composition for next year”, Yuliia Kozlovets, the Book Arsenal Coordinator, mentioned.

Previously, the 10th International Book Arsenal Festival was scheduled for May 20-24, 2020. The focus theme of this year’s festival is OPTIMISTS SKETICS curated by literary critic Rostyslav Semkiv. The curatorial team also includes the writer Serhiy Zhadan, literary managers Oksana Khmeliovska, Tania Rodionova, Yuliia Kozlovets and Oksana Shchur, music expert Liubov Morozova, art manager Olga Zhuk, writer and radio producer Iryna Slavinska.

The International Book Arsenal Festival was founded by the Mystetskyi Arsenal in 2011. It is an annual intellectual event in Ukraine, where the book, literary and artistic scenes develop and interact with each other, essential issues of human being, as well as of society and culture are raised and reflected, encouraging participants and visitors to take a proactive position.

The mission of the Book Arsenal Festival is to create such interactions when the combination of aesthetic experience and intellectual engagement in the context of the book enhances the ability of man and society.