Ukrainian cultural figures, who have been defending the country since the first days of the full-scale invasion and have been resisting Russian aggression for more than 8 years, will join the 29th Lviv BookForum.
Dmytro Krapyvenko, Yaryna Chornoguz, Artem Polezhaka, Iryna Tsybukh, Maksym Skubenko, Pavlo Kazarin, Masi Nayem are currently writing the latest history of our state at the front and choosing its future. Despite the war, the voices of these Ukrainian figures will be heard at BookForum, because its mission is to unite opinion leaders of the international and Ukrainian community around the biggest war in Europe since World War II. The Wartime Forum will be opened live by the writer and military man Oleksandr Mykhed, who was supposed to be the curator of the BookForum 2022 focal topic.
“Last fall, I received an offer to curate the BookForum 2022 focus topic and think about a wording that would embody, in my opinion, the spirit of the times. At that time, I could not choose any other topic than “The Undisguised Threat” with thoughts about coexistence with the enemy and neighborhood with a bloodthirsty empire. Since then, a full-scale invasion has begun, life has completely changed, and Russia no longer pulls on the sheepskin of a “hybrid” war. For me, this year’s BookForum is a unique opportunity to try to talk together, out loud, live about what happened to our country and us. In the circumstances of the threat and war, which has always been there,” Oleksandr Mykhed comments.
Dmytro Krapyvenko, former editor-in-chief of the magazine “Ukrainian Week”, lecturer at UCU, publicist and military officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Dmytro Krapyvenko, believes that in order to properly cover the threats of Russian imperialism and its colonial policy in the 21st century, we need to connect intellectual circles.
“The post-colonial theory also extends to peoples enslaved by Russia. The peoples of the Baltic countries, Ukraine, Belarus and Central Asia. We have to convey to the whole world that Ukraine is a former colony as well as, for example, India. If we ask the question in this way, we will be better understood all over the world,” he emphasizes.
Ukrainian writer and doctor of historical sciences Olena Styazhkina will outline for the world community her vision of Ukraine’s situation in the discussion “Imperialism and Identity”.
“The world seen by Michelangelo’s eyes grew out of the space between the hand of God the creator and the hand of Adam.
A dead woman’s hand from Buchi and a dead man’s hand from Izyum, a woman’s hand with beautiful red nails, a man’s hand with a bracelet in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, still keep between them a space in which the world can stand or become dead. Ukraine is currently fighting in this space.
I would like intellectuals from all over the world to try to understand this,” says Olena Styazhkina.
19 Ukrainian intellectuals will take part in the events of this year’s Lviv BookForum, namely: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Yaroslav Hrytsak, Olena Stiazhkina, Diana Berg, Kateryna Kalytko, Natalya Humenyuk, Stanislav Aseev, Larisa Denysenko, Lyuba Tsybulska, Andriy Kulikov, Andriy Myzak, Vadim Karp’ such as Ostap Slavynskyi, Sevgil Musaeva, Victoria Amelina, Tetyana Ogarkova, Yurii Prokhasko, Sashko Dermanskyi, Andriy Shapovalov.
During the four days of the forum, together with the world community, they will talk about the punishment of propagandists on the same level as war criminals, about the preparation of the future tribunal for all the perpetrators and executors of criminal orders, and about the geopolitical future of Europe after the victory of Ukraine, etc.
Lviv BookForum 2022 will be held from October 6 to 9 in a hybrid format: closed offline events with worldwide broadcast. The detailed program of events can be found on the official website of the organizers – bookforum.ua.
The project is implemented with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). With the support of the Open society foundation. Digital partner – Hay Festival (Great Britain), one of the largest literary festivals in the world.
The festival takes place within the “Season of Culture Britain/Ukraine”, organized by the British Council and the Ukrainian Institute. The event is supported by ZINC, Public Broadcasting, Ukrainian Pravda, and the Ukrainian Book Institute.