The United Kingdom has sent 25,000 books in the English language to Ukraine. This is a joint initiative by the charitable foundation Book Aid International, Ukrainian, British, and international PEN.
Ukraine has received 12 tons of books of various genres from publishers such as Penguin Random House, Oxford University Press, Harper Collins, Macmillan, and Unbound. The books include fiction, non-fiction publications, and materials for learning the English language.
The books will be distributed among libraries according to their requests, with the Ukrainian PEN receiving over 800 applications in three months. Requests for books range from three copies to five thousand.
Part of the publications will be brought by PEN to the de-occupied and front-line territories of Ukraine during literary and volunteer trips.
"Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, libraries have become shelters for communities, as well as places where reading and learning can continue," says Alison Tweed, Executive Director of Book Aid International.
In Ukraine, the ambassadors of the initiative are Sofia Andrukhovych, Andriy Bondar, Akhtem Seitablaiev, and from the United Kingdom – Alexander McCall Smith, Edmund de Waal, and Elif Shafak.
A documentary film is being produced about the initiative, and the project is undertaken by the production companies "Istmen Films" in collaboration with "TRO Media" and the state enterprise "Crimean House."
