The Old Lion Publishing House achieves record high in translation deals for 2025

Throughout last year, the Old Lion Publishing House signed 101 agreements with international publishers to sell the rights to translate books by its authors. According to Olha Besarab, grant project manager at the Old Lion Publishing House, in total, contracts for the sale of rights covered 35 countries.

Among its top five in 2025 were:

• “Half a Word: About Communication and Understanding Each Other” by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv;
• “The Travel Book: Summer Olympic Games” by Iryna Taranenko, Maria Vorobyova, Marta Leshak, and Anna Plotka;
• “Hemingway Knows Nothing” by Artur Dron;
• “I See You’re Interested in Darkness” by Illarion Pavlyuk;
• “Tales for the Moon” by Oksana Bula.

The publishing house’s most popular authors on the international market are Romanyshyn and Lesiv. The rights to their book “Half a Word: About Communication and Understanding Each Other” were sold to 20 countries in 2025, among them Slovakia, Taiwan, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, Greece, Italy, China, and the Czech Republic.

“Their books find more and more readers abroad. This can be attributed not only to the high artistic quality of what they create and distinctive illustrative style, but also to the universality of the themes and emotional depth, which connects with readers from diverse cultural backgrounds. Works by Romanyshyn and Lesiv constantly attract the attention of foreign publishers, and we see that interest in them is growing over time, confirming their status as the Old Lion Publishing House leading authors on the international market,” said Besarab.

“Hemingway Knows Nothing,” Dron’s collection of short prose, became one of the winners of Chytomo Picks 2025 and one of the publishing house’s bestsellers, and received five translation contracts in 2025. The rights were sold to the United Kingdom, Brazil, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Armenia.

Publishers from Eastern and Central Europe are currently showing the strongest interest in translating Ukrainian books, and the most active partners of the Old Lion Publishing House are Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, and Czechia. At the same time, according to Besarab, Taiwan is also among the top five countries in terms of the number of contracts signed in 2025, which makes it one of the key markets outside the European region.

“North Macedonia is also consistently among the most active countries. Expansion of geography is worth noting. In 2025, Ukrainian books appeared in new markets such as Azerbaijan, Israel, Cyprus, and Kosovo,” Besarab added.

The price of a translation license can vary considerably, and it depends on the traditions of a particular book market, the publisher’s plans for the print run, format, and price of the future publication, as well as the potential success of the translation. Accordingly, the initial price of a license can range from a few hundred euros to several thousand or even tens of thousands of euros.

“For us, selling rights abroad is about promoting Ukrainian literature and Ukraine globally. At the same time, selling rights always means extra money for the publisher and author,” said Besarab.

It should be noted that grants for translating Ukrainian literature play a significant role in the rights trading process. After programs like  Translate Ukraine, Creative Europe, and House of Europe began, the Old Lion Publishing House has seen strong interest from international publishers.

“The primary aim of the Tales of EUkraine project [from Creative Europe] is to translate and prepare bilingual publications and distribute them free of charge to Ukrainian children living abroad. This initiative is very important, and it helps Ukrainian children abroad stay connected to books written in their native language,” said Besarab.

However, she noted that, in its list of sold rights, the publishing house does not include 15 agreements sold in 2025 as part of the Tales of EUkraine project, as these are non-commercial publications.

In 2025, the Old Lion Publishing House introduced a new initiative called “We’ll Print for You,” allowing readers to request reprints of titles that are no longer available in stores. 

RELATED: The Old Lion Publishing House is on the short list of the best children’s publishers of the year according to Bologna

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn and Terra King