Despite the massive attack on May 24, the 14th International Book Arsenal Festival opens in Kyiv

The 14th International Book Arsenal Festival opened on May 28 at Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv. This year’s focus theme is “Bear Your Freedom”, curated by Ukrainian journalist, human rights activist, serviceman and former prisoner of war Maksym Butkevych.

Among the festival guests are some of Ukraine’s prominent writers — Andrey Kurkov, Yevhenia Kuznietsova, Yaryna Hrusha, Artem Chapeye, Artur Dron’, Anatoliy Dnistrovyi, Anna Gruver, — as well as international guests, including Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk; Krzysztof Czyżewski is Polish author and co-founder of the Borderland Foundation; Ariane Chemin, French journalist and writer; Peter Pomerantsev, British journalist, author and TV producer; Maylis de Kerangal, acclaimed French novelist; Marci Shore, American historian and Yale professor specializing in Eastern Europe; Danutė Gailienė, Lithuanian psychologist and public intellectual; and Yuriy Gurzhy, Ukrainian-German musician, DJ, and cultural curator, etc.

Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska also attended the festival this year. She brought books to the stand collecting books for Ukrainian soldiers, including Olga Tokarczuk’s “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead”, published in Ukrainian by Tempora, and Maik Yohansen’s “Sytutunha”, published by Vivat.

Photo: Olena Zelenska’s Facebook page

At the festival, Zelenska also purchased several books: Artur Dron’s “Hemingway Knows Nothing”, Artem Zakharchenko’s “Narratives of Mass Destruction: Tactics and Strategies of Information Warfare”, Alexander Stubb’s “The Triangle of Power: Balancing the New World Order”.

Cover of Artem Zakharchenko’s “Narratives of Mass Destruction” and Alexander Stubb’s “The Triangle of Power: Balancing the New World Order”

In addition, Olena Zelenska read an excerpt from Artur Dron’s book “Hemingway Knows Nothing” from the main stage of the Book Arsenal Festival.

Cover of Artur Dron’s “Hemingway Knows Nothing”

The program of the 14th Book Arsenal includes 240 events: discussions, lectures, readings, workshops, meetings with authors, music events and performances.

This year, the festival features several curatorial and special programs, including the Focus Theme “Bear Your Freedom”, the Main Program, the Kids Program, the Special Teens Program, the Professional Program, the Writer’s Program curated by Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman, volunteer, poet, novelist and translator Andriy Lyubka, the Festival of First Plays and the Theatre of Veterans, a Special program by Iryna Slavinska, and the Classical Music Program.

The book fair brings together more than 150 participants, including major and independent publishing houses, the book.ua bookstore, partner stands, as well as military and volunteer initiatives. The artistic part of the festival includes 15 exhibition projects.

This year, Book Arsenal will host the Festival of First Plays for the first time, as well as a special program by the Theatre of Veterans. The Writer’s Program is also returning to the festival: its curator Andriy Lyubka invites visitors to reflect on Ukraine’s neighbours.

The Book Arsenal Fellowship Program also continues in 2026. This year, eight participants from Czechia, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Sakartvelo, Egypt and Peru will take part in the program. Egypt and Peru are represented in the Fellowship Program for the first time. Pei-Shan Huang from Taiwan’s Slowork Publishing will also join the program independently.

The full program of the festival is available on the Book Arsenal website. The festival will run from May 28 to 31 at Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv.

In 2024, Book Arsenal was attended by 35,000 visitors. In 2022, Book Arsenal did not take place because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

Book Arsenal is one of Ukraine’s largest book fairs and a literary festival, bringing together publishers, writers and thousands of readers in Kyiv.

Related: “Everything is translation” — focus theme of the 13th International Book Arsenal Festival announced

Main image: Veronika Khrystich / Hromadske Radio