Book Arsenal will present its special programme at the Cheltenham Literature Festival as part of UK/Ukraine Season of Culture

The Cheltenham Literature Festival will host a series of events — Ukraine Day — by the International Book Arsenal Festival co-curated with the Cheltenham Literature Festival. The Ukraine Day programme is a part of the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture, a collaboration between the British Council and the Ukrainian Institute.

“In 2022 when we have cancelled the International Book Arsenal Festival in Kyiv because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, it’s extremely important and a matter of honour for us to have our special Ukrainian programme in Cheltenham. To give voice to Ukrainian authors, public intellectuals, artists, to speak loudly from the platform of one of the best literary festivals in the world about our literature and about who we are, where we are and how we struggle for our common human values,” say the Book Arsenal programme curators Yuliia Kozlovets and Oksana Shchur.

Ukraine Day will take place on 11 October 2022, presenting five events that will strengthen the voice of the Ukrainian literary scene. The Ukraine Day programme will include: a conversation with Oksana Zabuzhko, an art workshop by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv, a musical and poetic performance by Grigory Semenchuk, Lyuba Yakimchuk and Yuriy Gurzhy, as well as a conversation with Natalia Vorozhbit, and a discussion joined by Lyuba Yakimchuk and Olesya Khromeychuk.

The Ukraine Day programme at the Cheltenham Literature Festival is supported by the British Council Ukrainian Institute as part of the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture.

“The Ukrainian Institute and the British Council are supporting and developing partnerships with British festivals as part of the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture. Ukrainian creative voices will be heard at important literary platforms where a wide readership will be able to get essentially acquainted with the representatives of various genres of the contemporary Ukrainian literary scene, from fiction to poetry and children’s literature. Cross-cultural dialogues are part of festivals, and Ukraine should become a valuable and important interlocutor here,” says Volodymyr Sheiko, Director General, Ukrainian Institute and Nicholas Thomas, Director, British Council in Ukraine.

“In this dark chapter for Europe, we are proud to stand in solidarity with Ukraine and host a series of events co-curated with The International Book Arsenal Festival, Kyiv as part of the British Council’s UK/Ukraine Season of Culture,” say the organisers of Cheltenham Literature Festival.
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Cheltenham Literature Festival is the world’s first literature Festival, leading the way in celebrating the written and spoken word, presenting the best new voices in fiction and poetry alongside literary greats and high-profile speakers.

The International Book Arsenal Festival is an annual project of Mystetskyi Arsenal founded in 2011. It is an annual intellectual event in Ukraine, where the book, literary, visual, musical, and theatrical scenes develop and interact, where the important issues of human existence, as well as society and culture are raised, prompting the proactive position of the participants and visitors.