Children's Literature, Media & Culture (Erasmus Mundus International Master)

An Arsenal of Culture:

An interview with Yuliia Kozlovets from the International Book Arsenal Festival

by Anastasiia Lytvyn and Alesia Nikifarava

Yuliia Kozlovets is a general coordinator of the International Book Arsenal Festival, held annually in spring in Kyiv – in usual circumstances, we must add.  The special children and young adults programme attracts many young readers. The festival's powerful ability to stimulate cultural development by intertwining literature with art, music and theater is widely acknowledged and respected amongst the world publishing community. Yuliia believes that a book is not just a physical object but also a cultural event, which explains her interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach to managing Arsenal. Authors, publishers, librarians and other professionals are always eager to participate in the festival and start the preparation as early as February. We spoke with Yuliia about the implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the structure of the festival, as well as about co-creation with young adults and current children’s literature trends.

1. L. & A.N.: The publishing landscape is dynamic and changing every year. How do you decide what ideas are current for a particular year and are generally worth considering?
2. L. & A.N.: How did the organizational process of the festival suffer under the circumstances of the invasion? 

Y.K.: It is a big preparation work which usually starts in October. Initially, we are starting with the document which is called “terms of participation in the festival”. While working on it every year, we are taking into consideration the current situation in the market, the main focus for the coming year, and our experience from the previous year. Our challenge is to make a different festival every year. We like experimenting and mixing focuses and ideas. After we published the document on the terms of participation, it was the start of the open call for participation in the program and in the fair, and after that, the curators’ team read all the inquiries and ideas. After examining all the inquiries and requests, we are getting back with feedback to everyone who applied about the outcome. What is interesting, you see the trends while examining this huge amount of applications, and you can switch your program or tailor your curator focus to find the most actual points or focuses.

Y.K.: We were examining applications from potential participants of this year’s festival when the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine started. We had a general idea of how the festival should be shaped, having already found a challenging and exciting theme - migration - back in October 2021. It did seem ironic after the full-scale invasion began that many people were forced to leave their homes. Initially, we were planning to frame the notion of migration through a peaceful lens, developing it from our belief that it is important for children and young adults to understand this concept in the modern dynamic world.

In February, we announced that the 2022 festival in Kyiv was canceled, releasing a statement of shock and sadness about what was going on. Our message was widely spread by foreign media, and I received many inquiries for an interview with support messages from our partners all over the world. I will never forget one particular message from a representative of Frankfurter Buchmesse: “You have been building an incredible network of friends, strong international partners for 10 years. They are your force now!” Nevertheless, our current focus is to be present in various international locations, spreading Ukrainian voices through literature. For example, this autumn, we will get a chance to celebrate the Ukrainian written word at Cheltenham Literature Festival in the UK.

1. L. & A.N.: Judging by the applications you have received for the upcoming festival, what are some children’s literature trends you can outline?
2. L. & A.N.: What potential do you see in co-creation with children and young adults?

Y.K.: We were focused on the idea of speaking about the new trends of better visibility of Ukrainian authors, especially in non-fiction for Ukrainian kids. It was the year of the launching of the special publishing house of the Small Academy of Science, which is used for scientific activities for school kids. This new publishing house, which would focus on nonfiction literature for children, was going to be a huge announcement. Another idea was to work specifically with teens. We had a great experience last year when we had a special program for teens curated by older teenagers. It was a very successful project, and so this year we wanted to continue the work with the teenage audience, giving them special attention and location to speak, communicate and have their events.

Y.K.: Huge potential! Last year we had a great experience with teens who curated the whole programme during the festival. Our teenage curators designed a platform to communicate, express agency, network, and plan the events that would be of interest to their peers. Why do I believe that teens deserve their individual platform? I realized that when designing joint programmes for both children and teenagers, teens would rather join adult programmes. We also have had an initiative called Very Special Journey, which provided an opportunity for children with disabilities to join the festival. Teen volunteers were excited to accompany them, be their supporting partners and have fun together. 

1. L. & A.N.: In 2017 the book Maya and her Mothers was supposed to be presented at the Book Forum Lviv but it was canceled due to threats from far-right organizations. Have you ever had to deal with this kind of censorship when it came to the Arsenal book festival?
2. L. & A.N.: Many international guests have visited the festival over the years! What international book festivals inspire you? 

Y.K.: I can tell you that this book was successfully represented in Book Arsenal before the Forum in Lviv in the same year. There were two events: one was reading for kids and another one was a panel discussion for an adult audience together with the author. Usually, people do not remember the first successful presentation; they like scandals. 

Y.K.: Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to our many international partners and friends. Two days prior to the invasion, I had come from Bologna, where I was part of the jury of the Bologna ragazzi award. My international colleagues were messaging me, offering their support. In addition, I am grateful for and inspired by our colleagues from Frankfurter Bochmesse. FLIC from Barcelona has also been an incredible source of inspiration ! This festival is always done with passion and love for kids. 

1. L. & A.N.: What is the profile of the public that participates in the festival and is there any strategy to expand the audience?
2. L. & A.N.: What future do you envision for the festival?

Y.K.: The issue is that we cannot expand the audience too much physically because of the limitation of the space. What we have decided is that online instruments will give us an increase in audience; we are looking for ideas on how to catch the audience outside Kyiv and outside Ukraine. One of such ideas was implemented last year: it was a project with our Ukrainian Library Association called “Book Arsenal in My Library”. Every library all over Ukraine could be a partner of Book Arsenal, having the benefit of knowing the program of the festival two weeks before the audience gets to know it. This way, they are able to form their own program for the library. This gives the possibility for the local community to have their own festival. For example, the partner for this project was a Ukrainian library in Ecuador, which had five events. I also had the feedback with the videos of how fantastic women in some villages in Ukraine were broadcasting the concert of a Ukrainian band on the big screen in their library and dancing. They were dancing with us while being in their villages; it was fantastic.

Y.K.: We are hoping to bring our festival back to Kyiv! Our thoughts are about freedom and victory. 

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First published: 14 March 2023