Kiev Book Arsenal
The Kiev Book Arsenal is a spring book fair in the Ukrainian capital Kiev .
history
After the conversion of the arsenal on the site of the former citadel of Kiev into a state “National Culture, Art and Museum Complex, Art Arsenal” under the then President Viktor Yushchenko , the first book arsenal was held here in 2011 in Kiev. The management won over the young historian and cultural manager Olha Schuk as chief curator for the first five years. The forerunner for the book arsenal was the multidisciplinary "Hohol Festival" (from 2007), which initially included book presentations. Similar to the Lviv Book Forum in Lviv , many publishers, authors, book designers and readers meet at the international event. Various European capital city cultural institutes were and are sponsors: the Goethe Institute , the Institut Français , the Instytut Polski u. a. that embody and present European culture with their stands. Although the Ukraine is a main customer for Russian publishing house production, there was no corresponding supportive commitment by the Russian Federation - its cultural institute is the Russian House - which at the same time has so far benefited from Russian-language publications, especially from Charkiv (Folio). After the first event was linked to Kiev's day on the last weekend in May and the second to training day on October 3, the date was soon pushed forward to spring to a date around World Book Day on April 23.
characterization
The number of visitors to the Kiev Book Arsenal, not far from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, is growing steadily and in 2015 reached 70,000 that of the Lviv Book Forum. At around 100, the number of exhibitors is only about one sixth compared to Lviv. Book sales at the festival in Kiev are also lower than in Lviv. On the one hand, the book arsenal can boast impressively wide, airy high rooms, on the other hand, it is not possible in Kiev, as in Lviv, to lay a large spider's web of venues within walking distance - universities, bookshops, pubs, cafes - over the entire center of the capital and thus to involve a large part of the city and allow it to participate. In terms of the variety of event genres such as the Night of Literature, children's programs, discussion panels, readings, film screenings and music performances, the book arsenal does not differ from its older sister event in Lviv. For this purpose, the fine arts, the oldest subject in the “art arsenal”, and the culinary arts are given a larger space. In 2015, at the V. Buch-Arsenal, a separate hall was designed by small publishers outside the mainstream, in line with the tendencies towards pluralization in Ukrainian society.
Guests of honor and host countries
The Kiev Book Arsenal, like the Lviv Book Forum, has individual guests of honor and guest countries. In 2014 the host country was France, in 2015 it was the Czech Republic. There are now numerous guests from abroad, a result of the Euromaidan in particular . In 2001, German authors began to take part intensively in the Ukrainian book fairs in Lviv. In 2014, Judith Hermann and Katja Petrowskaja were in Kiev as German authors, Claudia Dathe and Katharina Raabe as editors of Euromaidan anthologies and Dr. Thomas Wohlfahrt from the Literaturwerkstatt Berlin (literaturWERKstatt) guests. In addition, a number of well-known French authors, publishers and scholars took part, with whom several Kiev university and cultural figures have been in contact for a long time. In 2015, Tobias Voss from Frankfurt, an acting vice director of a German book fair, visited a Ukrainian book fair, the Kiev book arsenal, for the first time. Since then he has been attending the event regularly. Other German guests included Professor Karl Schlögel, Katharina Raabe and the comic artist MaWil.
further reading
Literature newspapers accompany the events of both book fairs: the traditional "Literaturna Ukraina" as well as new internet magazines such as "Cytomo", the cultural sections of "Ukrains'ka Pravda", "Scho", "Zbrutsch" or "Zaxid.net" ". The book arsenal with its events can be found on the page of the “art arsenal”. The next book arsenal will take place from May 30th to June 3rd, 2018.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerhard Gnauck, In spite of the danger of war: Spring books in Kiev . In: Goethe Institute Kiev . April 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
- ^ Sylvain Tesson : Kiev: et le cri vint des livres , in: Le Figaro April 17, 2014.
- ^ Christian Weise, The 5th Kiev Book Arsenal Festival from 22.-26. April 2015 - From weapon arsenals to arthouses and forges of the mind ., With photos also as blog on the page https://christianweise.wordpress.com/