Ukrainian Book Industry Shaken by Russian Attacks

One-third of the books printed in Ukraine this year have been destroyed by Russian attacks, according to a recent report in Ukrainska Pravda, The titled article opens with “Fahrenheit 451:,” a reference to Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel about a future society where books are outlawed and firemen burn them.

In total, roughly 13 million books were destroyed in the past 50 days, or one-third of Ukrainian books printed, according to Ranok CEO Viktor Kruhlov. This includes an estimated 9% of all new textbooks damaged during the same time period. Markedly, most of the damage escalated in August, with over 10 million books in total ruined. 

The Russian strikes have caused further harm with warehouses being wrecked, such as Konvi, one of Ukraine's largest printing companies and a producer of school textbooks. Enemy forces damaged the publishers Nash Format and Laboratoriia offices in Kyiv. Many of the bookshops have been closed for financial reasons.

Artem Bidenko, Head of the Ukrainian Publishers Association, said Russian attacks, not counting equipment and building destruction, have cost the industry at least UAH 2 billion (US $44.8 million) in books alone, according to the Ukrainska Pravda article.

"Some authors lost books that had already been printed, and the same is true of textbooks. Significant amounts of money will have to be found somewhere to reprint everything that had already been contracted. That means the losses are far greater than we can calculate right now," said Bidenko.

There have been calls to the government for help. Last November, the Ukrainian government announced the 'winter thousand' programme, a one time state payment of UAH 1,000 (US $22), and translated to around UAH 220 million (US $5 million). Publishers and book distributors are now looking for similar action with a larger amount of aid from Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian government.

There have been reports that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the official parliamentary body, is seeking up to UAH 150 million (US $3.3 million) for schoolbooks, and that the Ministry of Culture is in talks with businesses, but there is no clear plan yet. In addition, there has been a 10 month conversation for compensation for bookshops and book purchases for libraries that has still not been solidified.

On the other hand, printing companies damaged by military strikes can receive state grants of up to UAH 16 million (US $358,000) for equipment repairs and up to UAH 30 million (US $672,000) in property compensation under the war-risk insurance programme.