Ukrainian literature defies the destruction and is even experiencing a renaissance: Amid air raid warnings, rocket terror, and the everyday reality of war, the book market is growing. According to the Ukrainian Book Institute, sales increased by 31 percent in 2024. The number of active publishers climbed from 300 to 350.
“The sector has been growing very rapidly since the beginning of the invasion,” says economist Hlib Vyshlinsky of the Centre for Economic Strategy. “It was not to be expected that people would spend more on books in times of war.”
What you won’t find here: works in Russian or by Russian authors. The fact that the bookshelves are full of books in the local language fills Sens founder Olexi Erinchak with pride. For a long time, it was hardly imaginable that they would one day fill entire bookstores: Until the Russian invasion of Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of the country in 2014, books by Russian publishers and authors dominated the market.
“For a long time, running a Ukrainian publishing house was more of a passion project,” explains economist Vyshlinsky. They couldn’t compete with Russian competition. “Today, it’s a real business.”
The reasons include the gradual decoupling from the Russian-language book market since 2016 and the return to the Ukrainian language. Since 2023, imports from Russia and Belarus, as well as the activities of Russian publishers, have been banned. Furthermore, publishers are now only allowed to publish in Ukrainian, minority languages, and the European Union.
“This has created a new market, particularly in the area of international translations,” says Vyshlinsky . Whether thrillers or romance novels, Booktok, i.e., content about books on TikTok, is also fueling demand in Ukraine.
A large part of the book industry’s growing revenues is due to increased prices, explains Oleksandra Kowal, who heads the Ukrainian Book Institute. Economist Vishlinsky attributes the fact that people are still buying books to the fact that they can travel less and that consumption is shifting. He is cautious: the market has not yet stabilised.
“People still have money – this is also due to support from the West,” says Vyshlinsky. But the future is uncertain. In two or three years, we will see how many bookstores survive. “If people only buy the bare necessities, books will be the first to disappear.”
Source: NZZ
