The 13th International Book Arsenal Festival announced dates

In 2025, the 13th International Book Arsenal Festival will be held from May 29 to June 1, as announced on the festival’s Facebook page.

The program component and the book fair on the ground floor of the Old Arsenal building. Historian and professor of European intellectual history at Yale University Marci Shore, and writer, translator, publisher and member of  PEN Ukraine Oksana Forostyna will be curators of the focus theme.

“This year, Book Arsenal will be held already for the thirteenth time, and we will take every effort to turn it into the place of the most important conversation that makes Arsenal so special and beloved. The very place where like-minded people meet, where arts and experiences come together, the place of joy and shared sadness, the place of reflection on the most difficult issues that affect everyone in Ukraine,” Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta commented.

“I am very grateful to Marci and Oksana for their work on the focus theme: having the privilege of observing the working process, I am sure that it will be deep and at the same time global in its breadth of conversation. The theme itself will be announced soon — in March,” added Ostrovska-Liuta.

The festival program, developed by guest curators, will include events within the festival focus theme, the main program, and a program for children and teenagers, as well as a professional program. In addition, the Book Arsenal will host a special program, the Translatorium literary and translation festival.

Lectures, discussions, performances, public interviews and poetry readings will take place on seven stages of the festival. There will also be a presentation of exhibition projects.

This year, the festival will again host the annual Book Arsenal Fellowship Program for foreign publishers and literary agents who are establishing cooperation with the Ukrainian book industry, searching for new direct contacts with Ukrainian colleagues and wanting to get to know local literature and publishing.

The deadline for applications for stand participation in the fair is February 28, 2025. By March 21, 2025, all applicants will receive emails with results of the open call. 

Reminder: For the safety of the participants of the fair and events, a bomb shelter is available in the Mystetskyi Arsenal premises.

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Image: Facebook page of the festival

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn