UJE at the 14th VinBookFest in Vinnytsia

On 16–17 May, the 14th VinBookFest was held in Vinnytsia as part of the European Weekend, bringing together writers, publishers, artists, and book lovers from across Ukraine. This year, the participants included some 80 writers, 27 Ukrainian publishing houses, and thousands of visitors, who attended artistic meetings, discussions, presentations, and charitable initiatives.

Over the course of two days, the festival hosted book presentations, public talks, panel discussions, author meetings, children's and charitable events, and interactive sessions — a total of more than 50 events. As part of the charitable initiative "Gift a Book to a Soldier," visitors donated more than 100 modern Ukrainian-language publications worth about UAH 30,000. The books will go to military personnel undergoing treatment and rehabilitation in Vinnytsia's medical institutions, as librarians are setting up mobile libraries for them. In addition, authors and publishers donated over 600 books totaling UAH 280,000 to the Vinnytsia City Centralized Library System.

UJE participated in VinBookFest for the third time. At its booth, visitors familiarized themselves with books published with UJE's support and learned about the organization's activities in Ukraine and its largest projects, particularly the UJE Timeline, Babyn Yar commemoration events in 2016, the exhibition project "A Journey Through the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter: From Antiquity to 1939," Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize, and the All-Ukrainian Student Drawing Competition "Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter: Our Stories Are Incomplete Without Each Other."

UJE's books and activities generated considerable interest among the festival visitors, with many exchanging their contact details with UJE's representatives in Kyiv for further cooperation.

After the festival, UJE donated some books to the Vinnytsia City Centralized Library System, which comprises a vast network of libraries providing library, information, reference, and bibliographic services to residents across the city and in surrounding areas within the Vinnytsia City Territorial Community.

More details about VinBookFest can be found here.

Vladyslav Hrynevych, Jr., regional manager, UJE, Ukraine