Unbreakable Ukrainian libraries
In June 2022, PEN Ukraine launched the indefinite support program for Ukrainian libraries affected by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Years: 2022-...
Coordinators: Alisa Bondarenko, Maksym Sytnikov, Anastasiia Yevstratenko, Anna Shevchenko
Communication manager: Hanna Ustynova, Eliza Zhdanova
Partners: Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Dukh-i-Litera Publishing House, Book Aid International, English PEN, PEN International, Komubook Publishing House, Book Arsenal International Festival, Pabulum Publishing House, Ukraїner, Crimean House, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Nova Post Humanitarian
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, over 700 Ukrainian libraries have been either destroyed or partly damaged. On the occupied territories, Russians systematically withdraw and eliminate Ukrainian-language books and books written by Ukrainian authors.
In June, PEN Ukraine launched an open-ended initiative Unbreakable Libraries. Supported by Ukrainian and foreign partners, publishing houses and non-indifferent Ukrainians, PEN monthly gathers and transfers new books in Ukrainian and English languages to libraries on the frontline and liberated territories.
In November 2023, PEN Ukraine received 25,000 new books in English language within a joint initiative with Book Aid International, English PEN, and PEN International. Throughout the following 7 months, the books were distributed and delivered to over 120 libraries during PEN Ukraine’s literary volunteering trips. The initiative was implemented with support from Humanitarian Post of Ukraine (a project of Nova Post).
Books from leading British publishers, including Penguin Random House, Oxford University Press, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Unbound, were delivered to libraries of the Donetsk, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Chernivtsi regions.
In August 2024, a new book donation of 27,000 copies was received from the UK. 12,000 among these are books for children and young adults, over 8,000 – unique bilingual copies printed out by the Pineapple Lane Publishing House with support from the HP UK Inc Ltd. The latter include works of Ukrainian authors Romana Romanyshyn and Andrii Lesiv, Halyna Kyrpa, Oksana Lushchevska, Halyna Tkachuk, Anna Hromova. Besides, the Book Aid International sent 3,000 more English-language books and the HP UK Inc Ltd. sponsored the purchase of 700 children’s books from Ukrainian publishing houses for Ukrainian libraries.
Other books from the second Book Aid International’s donation include over 15,000 multi-genre items for adult readers. These are mostly classic literature, biographies, memoirs, reportages, essays, self-development books, and contemporary prose in English language.
Overall, more than 100,000 books in Ukrainian and English languages have been received by libraries in the Volyn, Donetsk, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernivtsi, and Chernihive regions since June 2022 within the Unbreakable Libraries project.
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Delyurman Diana