A place of dreams: why a bookstore is more than just a store these days
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Today, there are quite a few positive news and good stories among the numerous news outlets. The media is bombarded with screaming headlines, advertising with bargains, and social networks reel in likes and views, broadcasting betrayal, despair and sadness.
In search of peace, good stories and necessary knowledge, we turn to books.
“Books are able to keep our psyche afloat, not only when we flip through their pages, but even when we dream about them,” – writes literary critic Rostyslav Semkiv in his book “Adventures of Ukrainian Literature”, which I was lucky enough to read last week.
Before the full-scale invasion, according to my feelings, more than 75% of the book market was occupied by books in Russian, and Sensu consultants were asked about them several times a day. After it became unacceptable to buy and read Russian and in Russian, Ukrainian books can finally develop without competition and colossal pressure from neighbors.
In fact, for the first time in history, we had the opportunity to fill the market with publications in Ukrainian. The historical and cultural processes of modern Ukraine turn books into an important nation-building tool, because the return of Ukrainians to their native language is accompanied by a growing interest in reading. The increase in the number of readers, for its part, invigorates the development of the book market in general.
Over the past year, many new bookstores have opened in Ukraine: independent and chain, large and small, most importantly – different Currently, the bookstore is in Ukraine – it is more than a bookstore. This is a space for getting to know literature, where readers come to immerse themselves in the safe and cozy world of already written books and choose for themselves what experience they want to get next.
| Photo courtesy of “Sens” bookstore |
But also – it is a place where you can meet like-minded people and future friends. In the two years of its existence, the bookstore in the Sens district has turned into a place where people from all over Kyiv meet, get to know each other and implement their ideas and projects together. The bookstore has become a meeting place for the community that develops Ukrainian culture and society.
With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Sens became the center of the volunteer movement. Neighbors met in Sensi and created the “Cave Cats” volunteer group, whose members wove and handed over 1,430 kikimors and 419 nets with a total area of more than 15,000 square meters to the military.
We held more than 80 book presentations with authors, gathering from 50 to a record 200 people at the presentation of Vera Ageeva’s book “Marsiana on Khreschatyk”. The “Books from Home” initiative was born in Sensi, which sent more than 4,000 books to Ukrainian communities throughout Europe. We started a book club, which now has about 500 members, launched a series of interviews on YouTube with cultural figures “Conversations with Sense”, helped organize “Book Arsenal” and launched the media “Sensor”, which set itself the goal of informing the entire Ukrainian society that culture is on time.
This weekend, the third book festival in six months will be held in Kyiv. New book editions are increasing. Ukrainian authors see a perspective in their work, and the number of authors themselves is increasing. Book clubs, which used to be a rarity, are now multiplying and developing, and more and more Ukrainians are coming to read, both within the country and abroad.
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| Photo courtesy of “Sens” bookstore |
I am sure that all publishers, authors and bookstore owners should understand the importance and scope of these trends and join our efforts, concentrating on quality performance of our work and supporting each other. In order to catch up with any European minimum, publishers need to publish twice as many titles every year than the previous one, and entrepreneurs need to open more and more bookstores in all cities of Ukraine during the next five years: and all this time there will be no competition between book industry participants . Because there can be no competition where the market is not filled.
Reading today helps prepare for the challenges that await us tomorrow. So find books that teach, discover works that inspire, stories that make your heart beat faster, stories about strengths and human weaknesses, fiction, non-fiction, biographies – anything that strikes your fancy. Or what the mind needs.
Yesterday, the National Reading Week started in Ukraine, and this is an opportunity to start for everyone who still does not belong to the circle of readers!
Read!
Read also: “Being yourself”: Why represent Ukraine at non-international book fairs
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