The Chapter Ukraine catalogue is now available in French

A French version of Chapter Ukraine — a digital platform that provides comprehensive information about Ukrainian books available in translation into foreign languages — has been launched. This is the platform’s fourth language version.

At the time of launch, the French catalogue of Chapter Ukraine includes more than 100 books from 34 publishers. Only a few of them come from Canada and Belgium: Editions Hashtag, Comme des géants, Dominique et compagnie (Québec, Canada), Alice Éditions (Belgium). Most Ukrainian books translated into French are imported to other countries from France. The highest number of translations belongs to award-winning translator Iryna Dmytryshyn — 26 of her translated books are featured in the catalogue.

“This catalogue is the result of a year of work by our team. We have seen that, despite Ukraine remaining in the global newsfeed, unfortunately, in the literary world our colleagues still turn to questionable sources, discovering Ukrainian culture through Russian narratives. We did not select books based on the ‘correctness’ of their views, but we believe it is essential to hear the voices of Ukrainian authors themselves — authors of different perspectives, generations, and convictions, working across various genres. With all this polyphony, the translations must be of high quality, published by reputable publishers, and most importantly — they must be accessible through proper distribution.” Chapter Ukraine: a French version of the digital platform featuring Ukrainian books in translation is now available,” says one of the project’s initiators, Iryna Baturevych.

The organizers encourage readers to send selected book lists to local libraries and bookstores that carry French-language literature, inviting to remind the readers about the tragic date marking the start of Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine:

“We would very much like Ukrainian communities to make use of this tool so that by February 24, dedicated shelves about Ukraine appear in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada. We have already seen how this works in practice. Over the past year, the network of Montreal’s municipal libraries has created Ukrainian selections formed with the help of this catalogue. This proves that even one proactive community can change a country’s visibility within a large book ecosystem,” says Olha Holovko, co-founder and Development Director of the Ukrainian Club of Montreal.

As reported earlier, English, German, and Spanish versions of Chapter Ukraine were announced.

The project offers carefully curated selections of translated titles, each prepared by experts based on the following criteria:

• translation completed by a professional translator;
• the book has a print run and is available for sale;
• reader reviews are available on international platforms such as Goodreads;
• the translations have critical reviews in the media;
• the distribution system is clear and functional

Expert group: Olha Holovko, Iryna Baturevych, Yevheniya Vytchaninova, Natalia Pylypchuk-Traoré.
Digital implementation team: Kateryna Kazimirova, Yuliia Kononenko.
Project assistance: Sofiia Kalinichenko.

Chapter Ukraine was launched this fall by the media outlets Chytomo and Craft in partnership with Snig.Digital, Kavi.Agency, PEN Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Book Institute. The French version was implemented by the Ukrainian Club of Montreal with financial support from the Ukrainian Caisse Desjardins.