During the full-scale invasion, interest in Ukrainian books abroad almost doubled. About this writes Forbes Ukraine.
In 2022, foreigners bought the rights to more than 230 books by Ukrainian authors, according to data from the Ukrainian Institute of Books obtained by Forbes. Interest in Ukrainian literature has been growing since 2013.
“The leaders of sales last year were Stary Lev Publishing House, Ranok and Vivat. Vivat has doubled its copyright sales. Since 2018, VSL has maintained a bar of 40-60 contracts per year,” Forbes writes.
Since February 24, interest in veteran literature and authors serving in the Armed Forces has increased. Among them are Artem Cheh, Artem Chapai, Oleksandr Mykhed, Valeriy Markus. More often, attention is paid to volunteer writers – in particular, Andrii Lyubka, Kateryna Kalytko, Maryana Savka, Tamara Gorikha Zernya.
Foreigners were also interested in children’s literature, in particular due to high-quality illustrations. According to Anton Martynov, the founder of the “Laboratory” publishing house, thanks to the pictures, foreign publishers understand the book’s potential faster than by reading the text.
Among fiction for adults, the best-selling works are the works of Sofia Andruhovich, Serhiy Zhadan and Oksana Zabuzhko, according to Forbes research.