13th Book Arsenal: Talking about understanding and when experience cannot be explained or translated

10.06.2025

You see an error in the text - select the fragment and press Ctrl + Enter

The 13th International Book Arsenal Festival attracted around 30,000 visitors. More than 200 events took place, including the focus theme program, the main program, individual curatorial and special programs, and publishers’ programs. These featured discussions, lectures, readings, workshops, meetings with authors, musical events, and performances. The visual aspect included 17 exhibitions and five book collections.

According to organizers, the festival’s exhibitions acted as visual and textual reflections on wartime, identity, meaning, Ukrainian culture, and other significant themes. A separate stand was devoted to the literature of Ukrainian defenders and veterans. The project was implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine and in partnership with the Unwritten initiative.

“Book Arsenal is one of the most beloved Ukrainian festivals, and we are happy that, despite everything, we can hold it for the third time during the full-scale Russian war. It is very important for all of us—readers, authors, publishers, artists and musicians, for everyone—to continue existing, to affirm Ukraine’s presence in the world, to strengthen Ukrainian subjectivity. It is like a statement to the whole world: we, Ukrainians, are and will be. That is why Book Arsenal is necessary now, and that is why we will do everything possible for it to be successfully held in the future,” said Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, the Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

The festival lasted for three and a half days and was located on the ground floor of the Old Arsenal building, where 100 large publishers, 11 small ones, and six bookstores presented at their stands; there were also partner stands of military and volunteer initiatives. This year, the Book Arsenal also welcomed the return of the Illustrators’ Fair: 12 artists, graphic designers, and illustrators presented their works in a range of visual formats and styles.

During the 13th Book Arsenal, seven curatorial and special programs were presented:

Everything Is Translation was the Focus Theme of the 13th Book Arsenal. Marci Shore and Oksana Forostyna became its curators.
The Main Program Our Arsenal. Curator—Iryna Slavinska.
The Kids and Teens Program The Familiar Language of Imagination. Curator—Olya Rusina.
The Professional Program of Book Arsenal. Curator—Yuliia Konopliana.
Book Arsenal hosted the TRANSLATORIUM Literary and Translation Festival with the Special Program. Curator—Tania Rodionova.
The Special Program The Cardiogram of Translation. Organizer—PEN Ukraine.
The Special Teens Program Interpreting the Unambiguous was presented by participants of the Litlab Teens.

More than 250 guests participated in the event program of the 13th Book Arsenal. Voices of Ukrainian and international participants were heard on the main, literary, author, street, and publishing stages, as well as in the lecture hall and workshops. Among them were writers, translators, poets, philosophers, media professionals, publishers, educators, cultural scholars, artists, military personnel, and public and cultural figures from Ukraine, as well as from Austria, the United Kingdom, Israel, Canada, Lithuania, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, the United States, France, the Czech Republic, and Sweden.

In 2025, the Book Arsenal Fellowship Program was held for the second time—a professional initiative that brought eight international publishers, agents, and rights managers from Georgia, Estonia, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, and Sweden to the festival. As part of the program, 94 B2B meetings took place, involving 22 Ukrainian publishers, rights managers, literary agents, and illustrators. The participants attended a seminar and took part in two intensive days of B2B negotiations.

The Book Arsenal was held for the third time amid Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Based on the experience of the previous year, the organizers introduced additional safety measures for visitors and participants.

“During the 13th Book Arsenal, we talked about mutual understanding, about translation from one language to another and within one language, about interpretation and those situations when full understanding was impossible—when experience, especially tragic or traumatic experience, could not be explained or translated. This is the experience undergone by individual people, entire generations or even entire countries,” said Yuliia Kozlovets, the Director of Book Arsenal.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, and First Lady Olena Zelenska visited the festival on the second day (read the news to find out which books they purchased). The festival was also attended by Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, former President Petro Poroshenko, and other notable guests.

The media partners of the 2025 festival included: The Kyiv Independent, Radio NV, Cases, Vogue.ua, 1+1 media, and ArtWizard. The official media partner of the 13th Book Arsenal was Public Broadcasting (Suspilne).

This year, 174 volunteers joined the efforts of the 13th Book Arsenal, assisting both the festival team and its visitors.

Images: Yevheniy Zavhorodniy, Anna Putylina, Roman Shalamov, Serhiy Khandusenko, Andriy Tsykota, Yulia Ptakha, Nastya Telikova, Sofia Yermakova

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn