Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian literary scene has seen some dramatic changes. The Ukrainian author Andrei Kurkov reflects on writing, publishing, selling and reading books in war, and how this has become an act of resistance in the face of aggression.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky attends the largest literary festival in Ukraine, Book Arsenal, in 2025. Photo: Andrew Kravchenko / ANP / EPA
With the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war already in its fourth year, few people remember the quiet, but almost twenty-year-long battle for dominance over the Ukrainian book market. Beginning in the early 1990s, shortly after the country’s independence, this contest saw the domestic publishing industry striving to defend itself against the aggressive expansion of Russian publishers and bookstore chains.
I remember how, at that time, former Soviet bookstores in Kyiv closed down one by one. The first to go was the bookstore ‘Poetry’ on Maidan – the only specialized store of its kind, with the largest selection of poetry in Ukraine. Then, the ‘Druzhba’ bookstore shut down. It had stocked foreign language publications from socialist-camp countries. The ‘Druzhba’ shop soon became an Adidas outlet which continues to sell expensive sneakers to this day.
In total, an estimated 700 bookstores closed in Ukraine in the first years of independence. Book sellers began to ply their wares at market stalls or just on the street, from small stands. During this period of wild capitalism, the Russian book business re-entered Ukraine and quickly gained a firm foothold. At that time, more than 90 percent of the books sold in Ukraine were imported from Russia. Publishers of Ukrainian literature found it hard to sell even the smallest print runs. Buyers stuck to their Soviet habit of purchasing books from Russia, believing that nothing of interest could be written or published in Ukraine.
Full-scale aggression
The book industry temporarily froze on February 24, 2022, on the first morning of full-scale Russian aggression. In the first days of the war, Ukrainians forgot about books. My wife and I, leaving Kyiv and not knowing when we would return, took with us only one book - the Bible in English.
Ukraine’s literary life lay dormant for a while. After two or three months there were signs of new growth, but what emerged was something very different from pre-February 2022 days – literary life had adopted the rules of war.
The first war-time book presentations and literary discussions took place in April-May 2022, in bomb shelters and on the underground platforms of Kharkiv’s metro stations. The initiator of these regular literary events in Kharkiv was the iconic Ukrainian poet and prose writer Serhiy Zhadan. He is still extremely active and is recently organized the Kharkiv Literary festival, at the end of August.
Ukraine’s literary life lay dormant for a while
At the start of the war, many writers from Kyiv moved to Lviv – further away from the front line. By the summer of 2022, when Russian troops had been pushed out of the Kyiv region, these writers began to return to the capital, and literary life there revived. Bookstores reopened, poets once more went along to the literary cafe 'Kupidon' for their regular Saturday gatherings. Publishing houses announced plans to release new books, but activity related to literature – writing, publishing, selling and reading – had ceased to be seen as a 'business' or a 'pleasure'. It had become an act of resistance.
This shift in attitude is reflected in statistics. If in 2021 only 47% of the book market was occupied by Ukrainian publications, by the end of 2022 that was 95%. The import of Russian books was already heavily restricted in 2016, and concerted efforts were made to combat smuggling operations. As of 2022, books by Russian citizens can no longer be printed in Ukraine. Meanwhile, print runs of Ukrainian books rose sharply, and our market saw the appearance of its first home-grown bestsellers – books that sold over 100,000 copies. It is still tough to make money for Ukrainian publishers and book sellers alike, but a distinct Ukrainian literary scene is becoming increasingly active and high-profile.
The book industry in wartime
In the first days of the war, Russian missiles destroyed several large printing houses, including the printing house of the big publisher Folio (which published my own books) and paper the warehouse in Derhachi, near Kharkiv. The physical destruction of infrastructure continues to this day. In June of this year, a Russian drone destroyed the warehouse of 'Ukrainian Priority Publishers' in Kyiv. 130,000 books on Ukrainian history were incinerated. Before that, Russian missiles destroyed the Faktor printing house in Kharkiv, where 7 employees were killed and 50,000 books burned up along with all the machinery. The sad list of destruction is long, and yet, despite the losses, books continue to occupy an important place in the lives of Ukrainian citizens even during the war.
History and poetry became the most popular genres
During 2022, Ukrainian military personnel serving on the front often asked friends to send them books about Ukrainian history, as well as poetry collections. These became the most popular genres during the first year of a full-scale war. At the same time, the Ukrainian PEN Club organized dozens of poetry recitals for soldiers near the front line as poetry became a form of therapy for the troops and many soldiers took up writing poetry themselves.
Books on Ukrainian history remain in high demand today and this is understandable. When an aggressor is trying to destroy your country and your national identity, an understanding of your history and the roots of your identity becomes a defensive weapon, giving you the strength to protect your homeland.
More nonfiction
Ukrainian novelists have mostly put their fictional works aside, switching instead to non-fiction about the war and the history of Ukraine. There is, therefore, very little new Ukrainian fiction on the market today. There will be time for fiction after the war. For most writers, now is the time for documentary prose, but interest in it among Ukrainian readers has noticeably fallen compared to 2022 and 2023 as readers grow tired of our sad reality and search for a distraction from the hardship of daily life.
From personal experience, I can say that living in wartime Ukraine makes writing fiction almost impossible. Before February 2022, I had started writing a novel, but the onset of the full-scale war forced me to put it aside. Several times during 2022 and 2023 I tried to return to my novel, but to do that, I would have had to shut myself away from Ukraine’s reality and submerge myself in another traumatic period of our history – the chaos of 1919 Kyiv. I could not do it. I had to stay focused on what was going on each day on Ukraine’s streets and on the frontline.
Only last year was I able to finish that novel (the third installment of a series set in Kyiv in 1919, titled The Case of the Public Sauna) while continuing to write about life during the war every day. The plot of a new novel is already taking shape in my head, but I do not know when I will be able to sit down, away from the newsfeed, and work on it properly.
More translated works
The lack of new Ukrainian fiction novels has led to the release of an increasing number of translated works. Ukrainian publishers are combing the international market for novels that will sell well in Ukrainian, although the cost of rights and translation make it even harder for them to make money. Nonetheless, this sector is likely to grow, and the most obvious direction is towards foreign crime novels, adventure stories, and romance.
Although there is high demand for translated works, publishers know that offering foreign fiction in wartime Ukraine can be a thorny business. This is especially the case if you have not properly monitored how your chosen foreign authors feel about Russia and the aggression against Ukraine. Recently, KSD publishing house (Kharkiv) decided to destroy a 30,000-copy print run of the book The Brutal Prince by American author Sophie Lark. They also terminated the contract for the purchase of rights for five more of Lark’s novels. The reason for this extreme decision was that, in her works, Lark romanticizes Russia and the Russian mafia and calls Crimea 'Russian'.
Offering foreign fiction in wartime Ukraine can be a thorny business
Recently, a new debate arose around the question: 'Should international bestsellers, which are published in Russia, in Russian translation, also be published in Ukraine?' Ukrainian book business activists believe that all foreign writers should boycott Russia and the Russian market, and should ban translations of their books into Russian. Very few best-selling authors share this position. The majority allow publication of their works in Russia, often addressing their Russian readers in a friendly manner in the prefaces to their Russian editions. Some authors even travel to Russia for book fairs and salons, saying nothing publicly about the Russian-Ukrainian war.
For many Ukrainians, such behavior is unacceptable. Apart from the moral implications, taxes from the sale of books are being used to fund the Russian war against Ukraine. As a result, all authors who allow their works to be published in Russia are actively 'supporting' the Russian aggression.
Most Ukrainians also refuse to acknowledge the existence of 'good Russians,' that is, those who support Ukraine. This has resulted in conflict at international festivals, where organizers try to invite both Ukrainian writers and Russian émigré writers who oppose Putin. The official Ukrainian policy was recently reiterated by Volodymyr Sheiko, the director of the Ukrainian Institute, a state organization that promotes Ukrainian culture under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. He stated that 'Our position and practice are unambiguous: the participation of Ukrainian cultural figures [in international events] is possible only with the complete exclusion of any intersections with representatives of Russia or Belarus, and is subject to several key requirements, the fulfillment of which allows us to promote Ukrainian interests and use the platform to strengthen the voice of Ukraine.'
More books and bookstores
The Ukrainian book market has now largely recovered from its slump in 2022. In 2024, 15,601 book titles were published in Ukraine with a total circulation of over 33 million copies. This is 1,887 book titles and almost 4.5 million copies more than in 2023. Almost 92% of these books were published in Ukrainian.
Over the past three years, several dozen new bookstores have opened in Ukraine, including the largest bookstore in the country which occupies a prime position on the capital’s main street, Khreshchatyk. Two factors facilitated the expansion of the retail network: the book market’s emergence as one of the markers of patriotism and resistance, and a fall in commercial real estate rents due to the closure of international brand stores. The new bookstores have become venues for social and cultural life. Literary discussions, book presentations, and concerts are regularly held in our bookshops which, according to the National Book Institute, currently number about 450.
Russian literature effectively no longer exists for Ukrainians
It goes without saying that there are no books by Russian authors in Ukrainian bookstores today, even in Ukrainian translations, and even if authors publicly oppose Putin and the Russian aggression. Books written in Russian by Ukrainian authors, such as my own works, have also largely been removed. Books in Russian are also removed from most libraries. Russian literature effectively no longer exists for Ukrainians.
There are about 60 online bookstores in Ukraine, and here you can still find Russian-language books published in Ukraine – but it is still difficult to find books by Russian authors. In online bookshops, you can also find my own books in Russian, published in Kharkiv by Folio before the full-scale invasion. The online sales of books in Russian are not high, since most readers of these books are representatives of older generations and are generally less computer-literate. Most of them don’t trust online shops or don’t have enough money to buy books. In real bookstores, Russian books have been displaced by an increasing number of books in English.
Writing about violence
Over the past four years, I have noticed how the war has affected me as a writer, besides making it almost impossible to write fiction. Previously, it was difficult, if not impossible, for me to describe scenes of cruelty and violence. Something stopped me – a kind of internal self-censorship. But this self-censorship has now disappeared, and writing about cruelty and violence has become easier. No doubt this is because the war has made violence commonplace. It is present in everyday life, in TV news, and most vividly portrayed in videos from the frontline and the villages and cities where Russian shelling has turned people’s homes into rubble.
The Ukrainian authorities no longer try to censor this material. It is as if they want Ukrainians to get used to the presence of cruelty and blood in the media. As a result, material that was previously considered 'shocking and morally unacceptable' has become normal.
Nonetheless, so far, I do not see a great increase in violence in modern Ukrainian literature. War has become a prevalent theme, that is true, but most writers avoid depicting excessive cruelty. This gives me hope that once the war is over, the traditional poetic intonation of Ukrainian prose will return. This gentler tone may help readers calm down; to come to terms with the consequences of the war and the changes it will have brought to our everyday lives.
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