Help Keep Ukrainian Books and Voices Alive
In 2026, Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have reached far beyond buildings and infrastructure. They are destroying the places where Ukrainian books are printed, stored, and sold, attacking the very foundation of Ukrainian culture and knowledge.
The scale of destruction is devastating. Russian attacks have destroyed more than 10 million Ukrainian books in 2026 alone. In Kharkiv, a Russian attack on Ranok, one of Ukraine’s largest educational publishers, destroyed approximately 8 million books, including 600,000 school textbooks. Just days ago, on August 16, 2026, a Russian ballistic attack severely damaged the famous Pochayna Book Market in Kyiv, one of Ukraine’s largest and best-known places for books. Book stalls and thousands of Ukrainian books were burned and destroyed.
These attacks are not simply destroying paper and warehouses. They are attacking Ukrainian education, culture, history, and memory.
This is why the Ukrainian Festival Zabava is raising funds for Smoloskyp Publishing House, an historic Ukrainian cultural institution founded in 1952 with a mission of preserving Ukrainian literature and independent voices.
Founded in Paris in 1952 by Osyp Zinkevych, Smoloskyp, meaning “torch”, became an important center of Ukrainian cultural resistance during the Soviet era. It published and distributed Ukrainian literature banned by the Soviet regime and supported Ukrainian dissidents and independent thinkers. After Ukraine regained independence, Smoloskyp moved its headquarters to Kyiv and continued its mission of preserving and promoting Ukrainian literature, culture, history, and identity.
Today, that mission is more important than ever.
Ticket proceeds for the Zabava go directly toward supporting Smoloskyp and the broader effort to rebuild Ukrainian publishing. Your participation is a direct response to Russia’s campaign to erase Ukrainian stories. You are helping ensure that Ukrainian books continue to be printed, distributed, and read.
We are committed to ensuring Ukrainian literature survives this war.
Thank you for standing with Ukraine and supporting its cultural future.