UJE at the XIII Book Arsenal in Kyiv

The Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter (UJE) again participated in this year's XIII International Festival Book Arsenal, which took place from May 29 to June 1, 2025, in the premises of the Old Arsenal of the Pechersk Fortress on Lavrska Street in Kyiv.

The Book Arsenal is a grandiose intellectual, multidisciplinary, and international event where the book, literary, and art scenes converge and interact, and critical issues of history and culture are raised and discussed. The festival has been held since 2011 and is considered one of the most influential literary and artistic events in Eastern Europe. In 2019, it was awarded the title of "Best Literature Festival in the World."

The Book Arsenal has taken place for the third time amid Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. This year, the curators of the focus topic, that is, the central issue around which all the discussions unfolded, chose a metaphor — "Everything is Translation." More than 100 Ukrainian publishing houses and bookstores, 11 small publishing houses, and six thematic bookstores, as well as partner stands of military and volunteer initiatives, presented their stands at the Book Arsenal.

Over four days, the Book Arsenal was visited by more than 30,000 people, with about half of them being young individuals, including schoolchildren and students. More than 200 events were held as part of the festival's program, including the Focus Theme program, the Main Program, individual curatorial and special programs, as well as publishers' programs featuring discussions, lectures, readings, workshops, meetings with authors, and musical and performative events.

The traditional "Showcase of Novelties," which has been presented at the festival since 2015, was showcased. Held for the second time was the Book Arsenal Fellowship Program, a professional program that welcomed eight foreign publishers, agents, and rights managers from Georgia, Estonia, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, and Sweden.

At UJE's festival booth, visitors became acquainted with the organization's mission and activities, as well as with the books published with its support.

Also at the booth, visitors learned about the organization's latest projects: The UJE Timeline, the museum project "A Journey Through the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter: From Antiquity to 1939", the Sheptytsky Award, Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize, as well as the All-Ukrainian Student Drawing Competition "Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter: Our Stories Are Incomplete Without Each Other — 2025".

Many people visited the UJE book display at the Book Arsenal in 2025. We are grateful to everyone who visited, spoke with us about Ukrainian-Jewish history and culture, and showed interest in our books and activities.

Vladyslav Hrynevych, Regional Manager, UJE, Ukraine