Federation of European Publishers

Recommendations to support and rebuild the Ukrainian book sector

fep-fee admin — 2023-06-21T09:30:34Z

In 2021, there were 1065 publishing houses in Ukraine. In 2023, only 549 still have some activity. The Russian invasion of Ukraine heavily affected the publishing sector, with the destruction of several printing facilities and the temporary or permanent closure of hundreds of publishing houses.

To support and rebuild the Ukrainian publishing sector, in February 2023 the Ukrainian Publishers and Booksellers Association and the Ukrainian Book Institute put together a list of recommendations for European publishers and European institutions with the help of the Federation of European Publishers.

The document with the requests to help the Ukrainian book industry, available in PDF below, has been sent to publishers, Members of the European Parliament and the European Commission to draw attention to the fact that the ongoing war in Ukraine is also a war on the country's culture and that Europe should also devote resources to rebuilding the book sector.

Better Time Stories

fep-fee admin — 2022-11-07T13:51:55Z

Stories have the power to inspire and change lives. What if they could also bring families closer?

Better Time Stories is a donation campaign that brings light back into the lives of Ukrainian children through the magic of stories. A donation of 15 euros helps to give one Ukrainian refugee family a welcome set of five children's books while also providing Ukrainian children with a ray of hope for a better tomorrow.

The package is designed for kids aged 3 to 7 years old, and it's composed of five bilingual interactive picture books that unite them with their families and help them to adapt to their new language environment. Fathers and other relatives narrate the books that could be read along anytime and as many times as kids wish.

The campaign is patronaged by Laurentien van Oranje, Princess of the Netherlands, Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine, Elke Büdenbender, First Lady of Germany, and Doris Schmidauer, First Lady of Austria.

Discover more about the campaign through the presentation video.

Donate to the campaign here.

Fundraising campaign for Ukrainian publishers

fep-fee admin — 2022-11-07T12:37:30Z

Börsenverein launched a donation project for Ukrainian publishers, bookstores and authors together with the Ukrainian Association of Publishers and Booksellers (UPBA). The donations will support Ukrainian colleagues in acute need and promote the reconstruction of the book industry in Ukraine.

The Börsenverein will give the money raised to the UPBA, which is collaborating with the Ukrainian Toloka Foundation on the project. Then, the funds will be redistributed in a targeted manner. Oleksandr Afonin, President of the UPBA, and Mykola Chayun, Board Member of the UPBA, are the initiative's sponsors. Membership in the UPBA is not required to receive support. The aid funds should be accessible to all publishers, bookstores and authors in Ukraine.

There are two ways to donate:

by bank transfer to the Book Culture and Reading Promotion Foundation of the German Book Trade Association | Keyword: Ukraine | IBAN: DE13 5085 1952 0000 1249 17 | BIC: HELADEF1ERB
via PayPal to ukraine-toloka @boev.de or via the PayPal website

More information here.

Initiative #OdiloStandsWithUkraine

fep-fee admin — 2022-04-05T13:32:10Z

Odilo is a company that provides learning ecosystems for organisations.

The initiative #OdiloStandsWithUkraine helps refugee children and their families to learn the language and culture of the host countries and to maintain the children's educational program in their native language. In addition, the ecosystem provides a space for entertainment in a multiformat way, where they can connect with other students.

To realize the project, they set up different facilities:

A landing page to be able to request more information and/or sign up as a teacher or volunteer facilitator.
An URL and a mobile application to access the digital ecosystem open to everyone.
A video to share on social media channels that will help to disseminate the message.
A marketplace that will help Ukrainian publishers continue operating thanks to the print-on-demand of their digital content. This allows them to overcome the logistical blockages of distribution and simplify the process so that libraries, schools, and European institutions can acquire physical books in Ukrainian to send to children and refugee families.

Books without borders

fep-fee admin — 2022-03-22T17:00:04Z

Millions of refugees and, among them, many, many children left their homes only with the minimum essentials. These children need to find comfort, these children need to continue being children. They need to play, learn, read.

The city of Kharkiv, where the main printing works are located, has been heavily bombed, making it impossible to print books in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Book Institute, supported by the Federation of European Publishers, appeals to the generosity of the book world with the goal to print in Europe hundreds of thousands of children's books in Ukrainian so to allow children to keep the link with their homeland.

All the money collected will be managed by the UIB, which will choose the titles and coordinate with local relays to print and distribute the books to the children. The FEP is the guarantor of this operation

Peter Kraus vom Cleff, President of the Federation of European Publishers and Ricardo Franco Levi, Vice-President and President of the Italian Publishers Association, said: “in this terrible time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our friends and colleagues from the Ukrainian Book Institute asked us to lend support to collect money to continue printing Ukrainian books and distribute them to children. It is clear that it is our duty to help our fellow publishers in Ukraine and to make it possible for Ukrainian children to have access to books. It is important for the book world to show solidarity. If you can, please donate, all money will be spent to print books and will be managed by the UBI”.

All the money collected will be managed remotely by the UIB, responsible for choosing the titles and coordinating with local relays for the printing and distribution of the books to the children. The FEP is the guarantor of this operation.

Donate here

Fundraising from Book and Kids Foundation in Bulgaria

fep-fee admin — 2022-03-18T08:10:28Z

Bulgarian Foundation Books and Kids is a young foundation with the mission to promote books and reading incentives. Amongst the activities of the organization are training for librarians to organize reading for the youngest (0-3 years), book donations for families from poor socio-economic backgrounds, and donation of children's books to libraries.

On 6 March, the Foundation started a fundraising campaign to print in Bulgaria 2500 books in Ukrainian language with the support of the Ukrainian publishing house Chorni vivtzi, who provided them with the printing files pro bono.

The Foundation aims to donate books to the over 20 000 kids refugees from Ukraine, but so far they can send up to 2500 books, and even for this amount the donations received are still not enough.

However, they already recorded podcasts with kids' books in Ukrainian, available here.

Donations can be sent at:

Books and Kids Foundation
Sofia
United Bulgarian Bank

Sofia
Vitosha St.
IBAN BG66UBBS80021016698750
UBBSBGSF

For more info and contacts:

Ukraine edition of Culture of Solidarity Fund

fep-fee admin — 2022-03-10T16:52:32Z

The European Cultural Foundation has launched the Culture of Solidarity Fund, a public-philanthropic partnership to support cultural initiatives that, amid turmoil and crisis, reinforce European solidarity and the idea of Europe as a shared public space.

The Ukraine edition is open and considers cultural emergency requests and joint European actions to stand with Ukraine. In particular, it supports European cultural initiatives in three areas:

disinformation, misinformation, propaganda filter bubbles, fake news, ongoing war ‘infodemic' by supporting independent, alternative, and trusted (digital) media;
individuals fleeing their homes and looking for shelter in Ukraine or exile by providing safe cultural spaces;
forces of fragmentation by investing in artistic and cultural expressions withstanding the harsh realities of conflict and acting for a peaceful future of Ukraine and Europe.

The application process has been simplified due to the extraordinary circumstances. Further info and application request are available here.

Fundraise to buy books from Ukrainian Publishers

fep-fee admin — 2022-03-09T14:02:25Z

NGO Fundacja Powszechnego Czytania (Universal Reading Foundation) is raising funds to be able to buy books from Ukrainian publishers, transport them to Poland and distribute them to Ukrainian kids and their families, so as to help both Ukrainian publishers and the kids seeking refuge in Poland.

A letter from the Foundation is enclosed, and here is the bank account for donations:

EUR bank account: 31 1600 1462 1871 2526 2000 0005

BIC/SWIFT code: PPABPLPK

IBAN PL31160014621871252620000005

Work for refugees from Ukraine

fep-fee admin — 2022-03-09T13:33:25Z

Polish Book Chamber initiated a project named "Work for refugees from Ukraine", that provides contact for people looking for work in the publishing industry. The aim is to help war refugees from Ukraine.

Polish Chamber of Books is working intensively and it has already information about 30 workplaces available. There are more and more job offers, and FEP members will activate to find job opportunities for them in their countries. Information about the project is available at the website www.pik.org.pl. The project is supported by organizations like: Ukrainian House in Warsaw, Union of Ukrainians in Poland, Book Institute in Ukraine and Facebook groups - Ukrainians from Poland, Ukrainians in Poland work transport information, Work in Warsaw.

Information about the required data is available on the website of the Polish Book Chamber, also in English.

If there are jobs for Ukrainian refugees in your countries, please write to biuro@pik.org.pl. We will forward your information to those interested. We encourage FEP and its members to help in our project "Work for refugees from Ukraine".

Let's create a hub for job opportunities in our European industry community, to help Ukrainian refugees.

More information

dr Grażyna Szarszewska (German, English), grazyna.szarszewska@pik.org.pl

Bartek Drela (English), bartek.drela@pik.org.pl