With nearly 12 million people displaced by war, Ukraine’s bookselling and publishing industries have been devastated.
According to Oleksandr Afonin, president of the Ukrainian Association of Booksellers and Publishers, since February over 3000 publishing professionals have lost their livelihoods. A number have lost their lives. Many bookstores and book warehouses in the eastern part of the country have been destroyed. Book sales in Ukraine dropped from 40 million last year to 4 million in 2022. Children began the school year without new textbooks.
A group of writers and booksellers (Carolyn Forche, Mitchell Kaplan, Christopher Merrill, Askold Melnyczuk, and Jane Unrue) have partnered with the Coral Gables Foundation to raise funds for direct support to booksellers, editors, printers, warehouse workers, libraries and librarians, and other personnel involved in the publishing industry and book culture. All contributions are tax-deductible:
The funds will be used to make direct grants to booksellers and others in the publishing industry in financial crisis; to help make printing and production facilities operational, and to assist in the purchase of books for libraries in regions affected by the war. As Oksana Bruy notes in a recent story in the Guardian: “The library is a community.” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/04/our-mission-is-crucial-meet-the-warrior-librarians-of-ukraine
An accounting of expenditures will be posted on our website.
Thank you so much for your engagement and support of Ukraine.
For more information, contact: Askold Melnyczuk, eliascannetti@aol.com
Payment by Check
Please make checks payable to the “Coral Gables Community Foundation.”
Mail to:
Coral Gables Community Foundation
1825 Ponce de Leon Blvd.
Box #447
Coral Gables, FL 33134
Be sure to put “HUBB” in the Memo line of your check.
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Leave your name below to show your solidarity with the cause of Helping Ukrainian Books & Booksellers
8 responses to “Welcome”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: HUBB REPORTS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE FIRST ROUND OF GRANTS
HUBB (Helping Ukrainian Books and Booksellers) is pleased to report that the initial transfer of $10,000 sent to the Ukrainian Publishers and Booksellers Association via the Coral Gables Foundation has now been distributed and is helping to support over fifty booksellers and publishing professionals.
A decision was made by the UPBA to help as many individuals as possible. According to the organization’s president, Oleksandr Afonin, over fifty individuals working in the book trade have received grants of approximately $150 each. While hardly life-changing, the modest sums offer recipients an important feeling of international solidarity.
Among the recipients are employees of Bookworld (Knyholand, a mall housing a number of bookstores) in Kharkiv, as well as editors in the devastated city of Irpin, along with publishing professionals and booksellers in Kyiv, Ziaporzhia, and Ternopil.
The recipients include Victoria Volodymirvna Kalishevich, a bookseller in Kharkiv’s Bookworld . She and her family were among the first to experience the full force of the war when Kharkiv first came under assault over a year. Victoria’s apartment was shelled and severely damaged she and her husband were forced to live in a bomb shelter until they were able to find new lodging.
Iryna Serhiivna Ledenova, who also worked in Bookworld, lived in Mariupol. When her home was destroyed by a missile, she and her family were forced to relocate temporarily to a bomb shelter. During this time her father passed away from the stress induced by the war, leaving Iryna as the family’s sole provider. The grant will help Ms. Ledenova while she seeks to reestablish her life.
Yulia Mykolaivna Ivaniuk works in the PR department of the Ranok (Morning) Publishing House in Kharkiv, a city she loves with all her heart. When her own apartment building was damaged by shelling she and her family were forced to live in bomb shelters before moving to a refugee camp in Chernihiv. Her health and her nerves have been severely impacted by the war and she had to underground surgery.
Once the capital of Ukraine, Kharkiv is a city rich with literary history, home to the famous Slovo Building which once housed a group of progressive writers associated with the Futurists, many of whom were murdered during Stalin’s purges in the thirties. For the last decades the building has provided a residency for both Ukrainian writers as well as for writers visiting from abroad.
A complete list of recipients may be found on UPBA’s webpage: http://www.upba.org.ua/index.php/en/home-en-gb
HUBB has released a second grant of $10,000 which will be used to purchase books from Ukrainian publishers to help restock 30 of the hundreds of libraries damaged in the war.
HUBB was founded by Mitchell Kaplan, Christopher Merrill, Jane Unrue, Carolyn Forche and Askold Melnyczuk in response to a conversation on Mitchell Kaplan’s podcast with Ukrainian poet and publisher Marjana Savka. This February Savka’s press, the Old Lion Publishing House, was named Children’s Book Publisher of the Year by the Bologna Book Festival.
Contributions can be made via our website:
https://helpukrainianbooks.org
For more information, contact Askold Melnyczuk at eliascannetti@aol.com
Just watched President Zelensky address the DAVOS attendees. Give now while you can. Tomorrow isn’t soon enough. If interested in making contact with Ukrainians, by practicing English or wanting to make a cross-cultural connection, (on Zoom, when there’s electricity, Facebook and SnapChat) check out https://www.enginprogram.org
Viva Ukraine—its rich culture and the literature–the BOOKS–it has produced and will keep on producing!
Poetry is so important to Ukrainians, please donate generously to help rebuild their book industry in Ukraine.
Help protect and preserve the culture, and history of Ukraine.
Please join us in donating to this worthy cause.
Books — and the history, the ideas and culture they represent – are among the first things to go when a repressive regime takes hold. Show your support for the past and the future of Ukraine by supporting HUBB.
It’s a crucial time to support the publishing and bookselling community in Ukraine!
8 responses to “Welcome”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: HUBB REPORTS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE FIRST ROUND OF GRANTS
HUBB (Helping Ukrainian Books and Booksellers) is pleased to report that the initial transfer of $10,000 sent to the Ukrainian Publishers and Booksellers Association via the Coral Gables Foundation has now been distributed and is helping to support over fifty booksellers and publishing professionals.
A decision was made by the UPBA to help as many individuals as possible. According to the organization’s president, Oleksandr Afonin, over fifty individuals working in the book trade have received grants of approximately $150 each. While hardly life-changing, the modest sums offer recipients an important feeling of international solidarity.
Among the recipients are employees of Bookworld (Knyholand, a mall housing a number of bookstores) in Kharkiv, as well as editors in the devastated city of Irpin, along with publishing professionals and booksellers in Kyiv, Ziaporzhia, and Ternopil.
The recipients include Victoria Volodymirvna Kalishevich, a bookseller in Kharkiv’s Bookworld . She and her family were among the first to experience the full force of the war when Kharkiv first came under assault over a year. Victoria’s apartment was shelled and severely damaged she and her husband were forced to live in a bomb shelter until they were able to find new lodging.
Iryna Serhiivna Ledenova, who also worked in Bookworld, lived in Mariupol. When her home was destroyed by a missile, she and her family were forced to relocate temporarily to a bomb shelter. During this time her father passed away from the stress induced by the war, leaving Iryna as the family’s sole provider. The grant will help Ms. Ledenova while she seeks to reestablish her life.
Yulia Mykolaivna Ivaniuk works in the PR department of the Ranok (Morning) Publishing House in Kharkiv, a city she loves with all her heart. When her own apartment building was damaged by shelling she and her family were forced to live in bomb shelters before moving to a refugee camp in Chernihiv. Her health and her nerves have been severely impacted by the war and she had to underground surgery.
Once the capital of Ukraine, Kharkiv is a city rich with literary history, home to the famous Slovo Building which once housed a group of progressive writers associated with the Futurists, many of whom were murdered during Stalin’s purges in the thirties. For the last decades the building has provided a residency for both Ukrainian writers as well as for writers visiting from abroad.
A complete list of recipients may be found on UPBA’s webpage: http://www.upba.org.ua/index.php/en/home-en-gb
HUBB has released a second grant of $10,000 which will be used to purchase books from Ukrainian publishers to help restock 30 of the hundreds of libraries damaged in the war.
HUBB was founded by Mitchell Kaplan, Christopher Merrill, Jane Unrue, Carolyn Forche and Askold Melnyczuk in response to a conversation on Mitchell Kaplan’s podcast with Ukrainian poet and publisher Marjana Savka. This February Savka’s press, the Old Lion Publishing House, was named Children’s Book Publisher of the Year by the Bologna Book Festival.
Contributions can be made via our website:
https://helpukrainianbooks.org
For more information, contact Askold Melnyczuk at eliascannetti@aol.com
Just watched President Zelensky address the DAVOS attendees. Give now while you can. Tomorrow isn’t soon enough. If interested in making contact with Ukrainians, by practicing English or wanting to make a cross-cultural connection, (on Zoom, when there’s electricity, Facebook and SnapChat) check out https://www.enginprogram.org
Viva Ukraine—its rich culture and the literature–the BOOKS–it has produced and will keep on producing!
Poetry is so important to Ukrainians, please donate generously to help rebuild their book industry in Ukraine.
Help protect and preserve the culture, and history of Ukraine.
Please join us in donating to this worthy cause.
Books — and the history, the ideas and culture they represent – are among the first things to go when a repressive regime takes hold. Show your support for the past and the future of Ukraine by supporting HUBB.
It’s a crucial time to support the publishing and bookselling community in Ukraine!
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