On Sunday, 16 August, Lviv will host a large-scale book swap, “Book Square 2026”, organised by the Lviv Municipal Library. The event will start at 12:00 in the square in front of the Ivan Franko monument at 1 Universytetska Street.
“Book Square” is a citywide initiative aimed at making literature more accessible and highlighting the important role of libraries as coordinators of contemporary book exchanges. This year, the event will take place simultaneously at 10 locations: in Lviv, Ternopil, Terebovlia, Zhytomyr, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Bila Tserkva, Khmelnytskyi, the Yarmolyntsi united territorial community, as well as abroad in Tokyo (Japan).
In Lviv, as last year, the venue will be the square in front of the Ivan Franko monument. Visitors will find a continuous 6-metre spread of books divided into four main categories: fiction, foreign-language editions, children’s books and non-fiction. All the book stalls will open at the same time.
Some of the titles available for exchange can already be viewed on the project website. At the same time, as the Lviv Municipal Library notes, participants will be able to bring their own books and swap them directly on the day of the event.
The “Book Square 2026” project was among the winners of a competition for cultural and artistic initiatives aimed at promoting reading, held by the state institution the “Ukrainian Book Institute”.
Last year, the book swap brought together more than 15,000 participants in five Ukrainian cities: Lviv, Ternopil, Terebovlia, Zhytomyr and Dnipro. In total, more than 12,000 books were exchanged. In Lviv alone, the event was attended by over 5,000 people, who carried out 5,950 exchanges.
Organisers are publishing detailed participation rules, lists of available books in different cities and programme updates on the project’s Facebook page and on its official website.