Last week, September 25–28, the Ukrainian Book Festival "Book Country" was held for the fourth time at VDNH in Kyiv. This year, the event was attended by over 93 000 guests.
Babel was informed about this by the festival organizers.
At the event, 90 publishers, 10 bookstores, and 15 independent authors presented new releases. Among the most anticipated premieres are the first Ukrainian edition of the cult manga "Berserk", new books by Irena Karpa, Vasyl Shklyar, the first book by Olha Navrotska and Alan Badoev, and others. Writer and blogger Katya Blyostka visited the festival for the first time.
Over the course of four days, the festival hosted 452 events: presentations, discussions, autograph sessions, theater performances, exhibitions, workshops, a costume contest, and star-studded readings.
According to the organizers, the average age of visitors is 26 years. The majority are Kyiv residents and residents of the region (82%), but there were also visitors from Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Rivne and Dnipro. 73% of guests visited VDNH specifically for the festival, 51% of them visited events, and 94% purchased new books.
On average, guests at “Book Country” this season spent UAH 1 344 per group of two or three people.
What books were most often purchased?
"Laboratory": "All characters are fictional. Or not," Yulia Laba; "Donʼt fall in love, Eva!", Alyona Ryazantseva; "Letitia Kuryata and all her fictional lovers, to whom she lied about her father," Vera Kuriko.
ARTBOOKS: "Diary of a Wandering Cat", Hiro Arikawa; "Funny Story", Emily Henry; "Attack on Titan, Volume 1", Hajime Isayama.
MEGOGOBOOKS: "Heʼll Be Back on Sunday," by Irena Karpa; "The Bones of the Heart," by Colleen Hoover; "Manʼs Search for True Meaning. A Psychologist in a Concentration Camp," by Viktor Frankl.
KSD: "Year of the Hornet", Vasyl Shklyar; "Charisma", Luko Dashvar; "Birthday", Penelope Douglas
"Old Lion Publishing House": "Hemingway Knows Nothing", Artur Dron; "Chronicle of the Gray Order. The Arcana of Wolves", Pavlo Derevyanko; "Chronicle of the Gray Order. The Net of War", Pavlo Derevyanko.
"Our Format": "Poison for Every Taste. 11 Deadly Substances and the Killers Who Used Them", Neil Bradbury; "World Order. Reflections on the Character of Nations in Historical Context (updated ed.)", Henry Kissinger; "Rich Dad, Poor Dad. What Rich Dads Know About Money That Poor Dads Donʼt", Robert Kiyosaki.
#booklover: "Heʼll Be Back on Sunday," Irena Karpa; "Rock, Paper, Scissors" Alice Feeney; "Choice," Edith Eva Eger.
"Publishing House 21": "The Mad Summer of Raccoons-Beskhetniks", Yulia Olefir; "The Physics of Sadness", Georgy Gospodinov; "Not Born for War", Artem Chapai.
"Morning": "Meet and pet! On the farm", Iryna Goryanska; "Restless animals: Capybara from the smoothie bar", Yulia Olefir; "A good girlʼs guide to murder", Holly Jackson.
"Vikhola": "Thatʼs what you need, or why you should choose yourself in relationships", Katya Blyostka; "The Witch in Ukrainian Folklore", Volodymyr Halaichuk; "A Word about the "Slovo" House", Volodymyr Kulish.
"One More Page": "I Want," by Gillian Anderson; "Our Wives at the Bottom of the Sea," by Julia Armfield; "What Are You Going Through," by Sigrid Nunez.
ArtHuss: "Wonder Painting", Jeff Vandermeer; "Composition and Narrative (From the Masters of Art)"; "The History of Paintings", Daniel Arrass.
Readberry: "The Language of Dragons," by S. F. Williamson; "The Final Gambit," by Jennifer Lynn Barnes; "The New England Ballet School. Stay Close," by Anna Savas.
"Georges": Rouge, Mona Awad; "The House with a Strong Frame", T. Kingfisher; "Cloud Atlas", David Mitchell.
The Book Bloggers Award was traditionally held within the framework of the "Book Country". This time, people voted for translated literature published in Ukraine during the year.
For the first time, two publications won with an equal number of points at once — "Bunny" by Mona Awad (publishing house "Georges") and "House at the End of the World" by Michael Cunningham (publishing house "Laboratory").
Next year, "Book Country" will traditionally be held at VDNH in the spring, April 23–26, and the autumn festival is scheduled for September 24–27, 2026.
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