Key Institutions for Ukrainian Literature's Growth
The Ukrainian PEN Centre is part of the network of PEN International, whose activity is based on the 1921 PEN Charter and seeks to protect freedom of speech and expression, support imperilled and persecuted authors, defend language and cultural rights, and promote humanist values through culture and literature. PEN in Ukraine organises human rights campaigns, initiates the writing of open letters, and makes appeals related to the violation of the rights and freedoms of authors.
Lviv — UNESCO City of Literature
As part of the global UNESCO Creative Cities Network, Lviv — UNESCO City of Literature sets as its primary goal the protection of freedom of speech and self-expression through the development and creation of new meanings in the literary life of the city, which, in turn, strengthens the International UNESCO Creative Cities Network and the UNESCO Cities of Literature Network in particular. The main areas of support from UNESCO cover urban projects that aim to promote reading, literary creativity, and publishing. The projects are implemented at the expense of the city budget and investors, sponsors, donations, grants, and international financial initiatives.
Ukrainian Association of Translators and Interpreters
Ukrainian Translators Association was founded in response to an overwhelming demand in the quality of translation and interpreting services. All who deal with translation professionally, both translators and customers need information, legal and technical support. Members of the Ukrainian Association of Translators and Interpreters are obliged to comply with the rules of translation ethics and professional standards in the field.
Authors' Reading Month Festival
The literary festival entitled Reading Authors Month was first held in the year 2000 in the city of Brno and has spread to several other cities simultaneously. In summer 2022, the festival took place in Brno, Ostrava, Bratislava, Košice and Prešov. The 2022 guest of honour was Iceland. The focus of the festival is twofold. On the one hand, it concentrates on presenting the national literature of the hosting countries; on the other, it also selects a fifth country each year to become the “Guest of Honour” and presents its literature as well.
internationale literaturfestival odesa
The International Literature Festival Odesa was founded in 2015 by Ulrich Schreiber and Hans Ruprecht. It has been held annually in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa from the end of September until the beginning of October. The festival aims to underscore the city's cultural charisma and international character, and to strengthen its connections with other cultural metropolises in Europe and on other continents.
The Ukrainian Book Institute is a government entity, part of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Its mission is to shape state policy in book publishing, promote book reading in Ukraine, support the book industry, provide incentives for translations, and popularise Ukrainian literature abroad.
Chytomo is the largest independent media that covers publishing and contemporary literary and cultural processes in Ukraine. Throughout its 12 years of existence, Chytomo has provided information support to over 1100 literary and publishing projects, organisations, and initiatives and has played a vital role in literary criticism and information, helping develop the creative industries’ ecosystem. The Chytomo team offers comments and consultations on the world of Ukrainian books and literature and is open to cooperation with international editors.
The literary festival within the Publishers' Forum in Lviv gradually became a large-scale event, foremost at the national and later international levels. Every year, the festival formulates a focus topic around which the programme is built. Visitors can enjoy discussions and performances, lectures and workshops, book presentations and autograph sessions, concerts and film screenings, public interviews, exhibitions, stage readings, and many more interactives.
The International Book Arsenal Festival is an annual project of Mystetskyi Arsenal, founded in 2011. It is an annual intellectual event in Ukraine, where the book, literary, visual, musical, and theatrical scenes develop and interact, where the important issues of human existence, as well as society and culture are raised, prompting the proactive position of the participants and visitors.
International Literature Corporation Meridian Czernowitz is an organisation that aims to return Chernivtsi to the cultural map of Europe and to promote dialogue between modern Ukrainian and European authors, intellectuals, and kulturtragers, as well as the promotion of the city and its culture, past and present. This aim is being realised by the number of projects that combine international poetry festivals, publishing houses, and related initiatives and projects.
ArtPole Agency specialises in creating multidisciplinary projects. It collaborates with musicians, writers, performers, and artists from different countries and invites them to team up with translators, cultural anthropologists, and philosophers. The result is new combinations of disciplines, new methods of work, and new oscillations. A search. A peculiar trait of ArtPole’s projects is their continuity—the ability to transform and be new every time through the addition and exclusion of certain disciplines, changing participants, and locations.
NGO Ukrainian Literary Centre is a cultural organisation and online platform that was founded on November 20, 2008. On a permanent basis, Litcenter develops and implements a number of local and international cultural projects (entertainment, translation, educational, and research) aimed at capacity building, community building, and empowerment of the literary professional environment in Ukraine.
Tranlsatorium is the only literary and translation festival in Ukraine dedicated to literary translation and International Translator’s Day. Since 2017, it has been held annually in Khmelnytskyi in late September or early October. Its mission is to promote literature and translation by holding a cultural event to contribute to developing the professional community and each person in particular.
The VERBatsiya translation group and activists from Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, and Ivano-Frankivsk organise the festival. Among its participants are well-known translators, writers, publishers, and cultural managers from Ukraine and abroad. The programme is complemented by projects that work on the border of different arts, particularly music and literature, literature and visual art, etc.