The national stand of Ukraine will be presented at the 23rd Vilnius International Book Fair.

The fair, considered one of the largest in the Baltic States, will be held from February 23 to 26 in the capital of Lithuania. This year, the event's central theme will be freedom and the 700th anniversary of the founding of Vilnius.

"The Vilnius Book Fair in 2023 will be incredibly bright and festive to emphasize the foundations of our free society. Together we will think about the future of Vilnius, Lithuania. The world - we will flip through the pages of the most beautiful books of the year, discuss with authors and creators, congratulate each other on the anniversary of Vilnius and share our tireless hope and support for Ukraine's struggle for freedom," the event website says.

In the fair program, the organizers will emphasize the involvement of children and teenagers in reading. Performances, readings, concerts, and meetings with writers will take place at a special venue - Holi for young readers. Discussions and topics relevant to adult readers will take place in the 15min Forum area.

The national stand of Ukraine will be a place to get acquainted with Ukrainian literature and its authors, as the organizing committee of the International Vilnius Book Fair emphasizes. It is already known that Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv, founders of the creative workshop "Agrafka", will participate in the event.

"This year, the Ukrainian Institute of Books in cooperation with the Book Arsenal will organize the National Stand of Ukraine at the Vilnius Book Fair. Ukrainian Institute of Books will be the curator of the stand, the total area of ​​which will be 25 square meters, and which will become the Ukrainian hub. Books by Ukrainian publishers in the Ukrainian language, as well as books by Ukrainian authors translated into Lithuanian, will be presented at the stand. At the stand, autograph sessions and meetings with Ukrainian authors - participants of the program are planned," said Sofia Chelyak, curator of the National Stands of Ukraine at international book fairs from the Ukrainian Book Institute.

Book Arsenal will present a special program at the 23rd Vilnius International Book Fair at a separate location. Julia Kozlovets, a coordinator of the International Book Arsenal Festival, told Chitomo about her: "Continuing our long-term partnership with the Lithuanian Institute of Culture, Book Arsenal is preparing a special program of events within the 23rd Vilnius Book Fair at their invitation. These will be poetry readings, presentations of new Lithuanian translations by Ukrainian authors, public talks and discussions, creative workshops for Lithuanian and Ukrainian children, and meetings with students. Together with Pictoric, we are also organizing an exhibition of posters by Ukrainian illustrators."

A film screening will also take place at the fair as part of the program cooperation between the Art Arsenal and the Dovzhenko Center.

"The date of the Vilnius Book Fair will be the anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine: on February 24, 2022, Lithuanian colleagues at the opening of their event loudly declared their strong support for our struggle for their freedom, spoke out against Russia's aggression in word and deed, mobilized the community and professional community to collective action." - says Yulia Kozlovets. - "We felt this support on many levels during these months of resistance, and we are honored to be invited to the fair in Vilnius this year to make important Ukrainian voices and topics heard, to talk about culture in times of war, and to continue spreading the message of the need to support Ukraine in world".

The 23rd International Vilnius Book Fair will be held at the Litexpo Exhibition and Congress Center. Organizers of the fair: Association of Lithuanian Publishers, Lithuanian Institute of Culture and Lithuanian Exhibition, and Congress Center Litexpo.

The publication uses information from the 15min website.