The 33rd Lviv International BookForum Begins in Lviv: Program, Participants, and Purpose of the Event
From September 10 to 13, Lviv will host the 33rd Lviv International BookForum, a literary festival that will bring together more than 40 writers, intellectuals, historians, and philosophers from Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, Germany, France, and other countries to explore the central theme: “The Responsibility of Literature.” Participants in both online and offline events include Stephen Fry, Charlotte Higgins, Marci Shore, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Yurii Andrukhovych, Serhii Zhadan, Artur Dron, Volodymyr Viatrovych, Dariia Piskozub, Ihor Mitrov, and Kateryna Kalytko.
This year, the festival is supported by the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation within the framework of the Flagship Events grant program, the International Renaissance Foundation, the Canadian non-governmental organization Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, the Lviv Regional Military Administration, and the Lviv City Council. The organizer of BookForum is the NGO Publishers Forum. Admission to all BookForum events is free of charge.
The festival program will include discussions, public interviews, and readings. In total, around 300 events will take place at 30 venues in the heart of Lviv. Main Stage events will be held at the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (15 Svobody Avenue).
The program of the 33rd Lviv International BookForum will consist of Main Stage events curated by Ostap Slyvynskyi, Chair of the BookForum Strategic Council, and eight thematic clusters:
- “Fantastic Conversation” – curated by Yaryna Katorozh
- “A New Measure of the World” – curated by Yurii Prokhasko
- Photobook Cluster – curated by Valentyn Kuzan
- “War Literature” – curated by Tetiana Pylypets
- Professional Cluster – curated by Oleksandra Koval
- Historical Cluster – curated by Vakhtang Kipiani
- “Translation as a Practice of the Future” – curated by Yuliia Didokha
- Poetry Cluster – curated by Olena Pavlova, Olesia Bedzvin, and Liana Mytsko
“To highlight the different facets of this year’s focus for very diverse audiences and bring them together into one festival event—that is the key principle behind the clusters and special programs,” comments Olha Movchan, Director of the NGO Publishers Forum. “We relied on the visions of curators who are experts in their fields and who design events not only in response to audience demand, but also by identifying important yet often overlooked and undefined subtopics for discussion. Thirty-three years of organizing the Forum allow us to experiment and provide a platform for difficult topics that are often avoided.”
In addition, BookForum will feature a special program including the presentation of the “Encounter” Prize, a silent rave organized by PEN Ukraine, and other events.
The literary festival’s international partners include Hay Festival, House of Europe, Goethe-Institut Ukraine, the Polish Institute in Kyiv, and British Council Ukraine.
The program of the 33rd BookForum can be viewed on the website or through the festival’s mobile application.
At the same time as the 33rd Lviv International BookForum, the Publishers Forum Book Fair in Lviv, also organized by the NGO Publishers Forum, will take place. For several decades, its venue has been the Lviv Palace of Arts. Publishers from across the country will gather on its four floors to present bestsellers and new releases and to hold book signings.
The NGO Publishers Forum encourages everyone who loves Ukrainian books to visit the fair and support their favorite publishing houses, many of which have suffered from Russian attacks on warehouses, printing facilities, and offices.
The fair will also have its own event program. The Lviv Palace of Arts will host a poetry reading by Serhii Zhadan, an acoustic concert by the band Antytila, presentations of a new novel by Artem Chekh, a poetry collection by Yevhen Volodchenko (Kurhan), a new project about Ukrainian palaces by Akim Halimov, and more. Vasyl Shkliar, Mariia Matios, Halyna Pahutiak, Volodymyr Stanchyshyn, Mariana Savka, Ostap Ukrainets, and Ivan Malkovych will also participate in various fair events.
Admission to the Publishers Forum in Lviv (17 Kopernyka Street) requires a ticket. Fifteen percent of the price of each ticket will be donated to support the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine “Khartiia.”
