The list of Ukrainian books to be translated into foreign languages in 2025 announced

In 2025, as part of the Translate Ukraine translation support program by the Ukrainian Book Institute, 81 books by Ukrainian authors will be translated into foreign languages.

In total, as part of the 2025 Translate Ukraine program, Ukrainian books are planned to be translated into 25 languages across 28 countries. Most of the translations are planned into Polish (seven), Spanish (six), Latvian (six), and Slovak (six). 

Among the selected projects are five books to be translated into English:

• “Girl with a Teddy Bear” by Viktor Domontovych, Dedalus Limited (UK);

• “The Diary of Taras Shevchenko, Glagoslav Publications B.V. (Netherlands);

• “dasein: The Defense of Presence” by Yaryna Chornohuz, Jantar Publishing Ltd (UK);

• Short Stories by Ivan Franko, Volume 1, Glagoslav Publications B.V. (Netherlands);

• “Transit Culture and Postcolonial Trauma” by Tamara Hundorova, Academic Studies Press (USA).

Additionally, Ukrainian books will be translated into: 

• Arabic (2);
• Bengali (1);
• Bulgarian (3);
• Greek (2);
• Georgian (3);
• Hebrew (1);
• Italian (4);
• Chinese (1);
• Lithuanian (3);
• Macedonian (5);
• German (3);
• Portuguese (3);
• Romanian (2);
• Serbian (1);
• Hungarian (4);
• Finnish (2);
• French (4);
• Croatian (2);
• Czech (3);
• Swedish (2).

“An increasing number of countries are joining the program, and that is great news. The projects that received support won in real competition, and among those that, unfortunately, were not supported, there are also some interesting ones,”

 

Valentyna Stukalova, chair of the Translate Ukraine expert council, said.

Stukalova added that the number of applications for the translation support program has grown, their quality has improved, and the geographic scope has expanded. 

Among the most popular authors this year are:

• Sofia Andrukhovych (her novel “Amadoka” will be released in Bulgarian, Romanian, Finnish, and Swedish,” Catananhe” will be translated into Macedonian, and “Felix Austria” will be translated into Serbian);

• Eugenia Kuznetsova (“The Ladder” will be published in Georgian, Lithuanian, and Slovak, the novel “Ask Miechka” will be released in Greek, and “The Sheep Is Whole” will be translated into Finnish);

• Serhiy Zhadan (The short story collection “Arabesques” will be published in Romanian and Swedish translations, the novel “Voroshilovgrad” will be translated into Slovak, “Mesopotamia” will be released in Hungarian, and “Internat” will be translated into Croatian).

The list of winning projects includes books by military authors, including:

• The poetry collection “We Were Here” by Artur Dron will be published in Polish and French;

• “Hunters for Happiness” by Valeriy Puzik will be translated into Polish;

• “I See You’re Interested in Darkness” by Illarion Pavlyuk will be released in Hungarian;

• The poetry collection “Poetry from the Gunport” by Maksym Kryvtsov will be translated into Portuguese, French, and Bulgarian;

• “The Bright Path” by Stanislav Aseev will be published in Georgian;

• The collection “[dasein: the defense of presence]” by Yaryna Chornoguz will be released in English;

As part of Translate Ukraine, 11 children’s books, 41 works of fiction, six books of Ukrainian classics, eight nonfiction books, and 15 poetry collections are planned to be published. 

Find the detailed list here. 

Translations that will be funded under the program have been selected by the Expert Council of Translate Ukraine.

The members are:

Chairwoman: Valentyna Stukalova, head of the Media Library at the French Institute and curator of events in literature and publishing.

Deputy chair: Polina Horodytska, expert in international grant programs EU4Culture in the cultural sector.

Iryna Baturevych, journalist, co-founder of the cultural media outlet about books and literature Chytomo.

Yulia Laktionova, specialist in marketing and publishing at Amsterdam University Press.

Yaroslava Strikha, translator, literary critic, PhD from Harvard University.

Dmytro Chystiak, translator, member of the National Union of Writers of Ukraine.

Volodymyr Sheiko, General Director of the state institution Ukrainian Institute.

Maria Shubchyk, head of the Information and Library department at the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine.

A total of 161 applications were submitted for the translation support program, with 28 of them failing to pass the technical selection. 

Translate Ukraine is a program of the Ukrainian Book Institute that partially reimburses the costs of publishing Ukrainian literature in foreign languages. UBI supports books written in Ukrainian and published by Ukrainian publishers. These include fiction (prose, poetry, drama), nonfiction and humanities, as well as children’s and young adult literature. 

The UBI provides support to new and experienced translators. The UBI covers the costs of transferring rights and translation. At the same time, the program does not cover printing and other costs (editing, proofreading, design, layout). The maximum amount reimbursed by the Ukrainian Book Institute is up to EUR 4,000 per edition. 

RELATED: 13 Ukrainian books to be translated into English this year as part of the Translate Ukraine Program

Image: UBI

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn