Olha Movchan
Head of "BookForum" · Director "Publishers’ Forum" NGO
About us
Responsibility of LiteratureInternational Literary FestivalLvivSeptember 10–13, 20268 thematic clustersBook FairMuseum of Ethnography and CraftsPowder TowerLviv Regional Universal Scientific LibraryLviv Municipal Art CenterDzyga Art CenterRoman Ivanychuk Lviv Regional Library for Youth
NGO Forum of Publishers
33 YEARS AROUND BOOKS
From the initiative of a few enthusiasts to the country's leading cultural festival.
In 1994, a team of Lviv public figures, cultural scholars, journalists and publishers stepped into the public arena with the need to respond to the crisis in the book market. This is how the Publishers Forum of Ukraine came about — 25 professional and literary events and a book fair. Today it is an institution that promotes reading, develops publishing and represents the Ukrainian book worldwide. Lviv International BookForum has become one of the largest literary festivals in Central and Eastern Europe, and the organisation itself is among those that earned Lviv its status as a UNESCO City of Literature.
WHAT WE DO
OUR WORK
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01
FESTIVAL
A focus theme every year, hundreds of events across Lviv venues, and the Night of Poetry and Music non stop. In recent years — 2,500 authors from 43 countries and 15,000 industry professionals.
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02
BOOK MARKET
The BookForum Best Book Award since 1994, professional programmes for publishers and librarians, and Ukrainian exhibitions in Frankfurt, Leipzig, Warsaw, Pisa and Vilnius.
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03
READING PROMOTION
From the Best Reader of Ukraine competition and Bookmania to Reading Rooms in frontline communities and a nationwide study of reading levels.
NGO Forum of Publishers
33 YEARS AROUND BOOKS
From the initiative of a few enthusiasts to the country's leading cultural festival.
In 1994, a team of Lviv public figures, cultural scholars, journalists and publishers stepped into the public arena with the need to respond to the crisis in the book market. This is how the Publishers Forum of Ukraine came about — 25 professional and literary events and a book fair. Today it is an institution that promotes reading, develops publishing and represents the Ukrainian book worldwide. Lviv International BookForum has become one of the largest literary festivals in Central and Eastern Europe, and the organisation itself is among those that earned Lviv its status as a UNESCO City of Literature.
What attendees say
The team
Who runs it
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Liubov Borshchova
Finance Director
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Ostap Slyvynskyi
Head of the Strategic Council
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Anna Batyshcheva
Deputy Head of Technical Affairs
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Solomiia Sadova
Communications Manager
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Anhelina Makhniuk
Programme Manager
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Anastasia Sumtsova
Organizer of the Book Fair “Publishers' Forum Lviv”
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Daria Hrynko
International Programme Manager
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Kateryna Shevchenko
Member of the Strategic Council
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1994
The first Forum
The first Publishers’ Forum book fair took place in Lviv, marking the beginning of what would become Ukraine’s largest book festival.
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1995
Officially established
The Publishers’ Forum NGO was officially established, and the Best Book of the Forum Award (now the BookForum Best Book Award) was launched.
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1997
Literary Festival
The Literary Festival emerged as a major standalone event, transforming the Forum from a book fair into a large-scale cultural festival.
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2006
Literary Festival became international
The Literary Festival became international, welcoming renowned authors from around the world and establishing itself as one of Central and Eastern Europe’s leading literary festivals.
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2018
From Literary Festival to BookForum
The festival underwent a rebranding and adopted the name BookForum reinforcing its international identity.
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2020
The first online edition
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BookForum was held online for the first time, significantly expanding its global audience.
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2022
BookForum x Hay Festival
In partnership with Hay Festival, BookForum became a global platform for discussions on Russia’s war against Ukraine, freedom, democracy, and the future of Europe, featuring prominent international speakers and multilingual live broadcasts.
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2025
Revival of the traditional format
For the first time since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the large-scale book fair returned to the Lviv Palace of Arts, symbolizing the revival of the festival’s traditional format.