Ukrainian literature will be brought to a global audience of millions in the hybrid Lviv BookForum 2024 programme, out today and broadcasting online 3-6 October in partnership with Hay Festival.

Themed around "the power of collective action", the programme features more than 60 artists including novelists Salman Rushdie and Georgi Gospodinov; poet and film-maker Iryna Tsilyk; Nobel Peace Prize winner Oleksandra Matviichuk; Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Oksana Zabuzhko; National Poet of Wales Hanan Issa; author, comedian and broadcaster Viv Groskup; The New Yorker’s David Remnick; AP reporter Vasilisa Stepanenko; reporter Terrell Jermaine Starr; and investigative journalist Oliver Bullough. 

Explore the full programme online now at hayfestival.org/lviv-bookforum and register to join the free online livestreams. 

This will be the 31st edition of Lviv BookForum, Ukraine’s largest book festival, aiming to create a civic space for a free and tolerant exchange of ideas between writers and readers around the world. 

In the third year of the Russian full-scale invasion, Lviv BookForum will use up-to-date experience of Ukrainians to speak about slavery and the post-colonial experience, the impact of public activism, gender issues and in general how the actions of citizens of the world affect global democratic processes.

The hybrid programme – part in-person and part online – will blend renowned Ukrainian writers with internationally acclaimed literary figures in essential conversations around this year’s headline theme of 'collective action', encompassing art in times of conflict, memory, genderequality, loss, corruption, imperialism, and hope.

As digital partner for the third year running, Hay Festival will broadcast conversations free online in English, Spanish and Ukrainian to a global audience of millions, while bolstering the programme with a specially curated strand of online events pairing international writers with their Ukrainian contemporaries. 

Lviv BookForum Director Sofia Cheliak said: “This year’s Lviv BookForum programme is a celebration of the power of storytelling and the role of collective action in building a better world.

“In preserving this safe space of exchange and innovation, we wish to share essential stories from across Ukraine with the world. We invite readers across the globe to stand with us in solidarity in showing Ukrainian authors that their voices are needed and valued more than ever.

“Their actions are a manifestation of strength for Ukraine and democracy.”

Hay Festival CEO Julie Finch said: “As an international charity, we reach millions of people every year through our one-of-a-kind Festivals, Forums, programmes, and digital platforms.

“We are delighted to extend our Lviv BookForum collaboration as digital media partner of this year’s event, continuing to bring new audiences to Lviv BookForum and champion their essential work in creating an open platform for free expression.”

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, two hybrid editions of Lviv BookForum have taken place in partnership with Hay Festival, featuring guests including Nobel Prize for Literature winner Abdulrazak Gurnah; Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood; anthropologist Yuval Noah Harari; authors Elif Shafak, Neil Gaiman, Victoria Amelina, Samar Yazbek, Jonathan Littell and Liuba Tsybulska; lawyers and activists Larysa Denysenko and Philippe Sands; poets Kateryna Kalytko and Ostap Slyvynsky; philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko; and many more. 

Hay Festival, one of the world’s leading cultural charities, was founded in 1987, providing audiences with dynamic platforms to come together to share ideas, different perspectives and provoke conversations that can create a better world. 

The continued partnership is the latest chapter of the Festival’s global projects, forging creative connections around the world with year-round events and partnerships.