Latvian capital welcomes first Ukrainian Bookstore

Artem Chuyko, a philologist and teacher, has founded a new project – The Ukrainian Bookstore, located in the capital of Latvia. The bookstore specializes in selling books in Ukrainian.

The owners reported this in an interview with the publication Chytomo.

Artem Chuyko launched his activities in March 2024 with an Instagram page, which was later followed by a website. The bookstore's physical location has become a significant cultural hub for the Ukrainian community in Latvia.

According to Artem, opening the bookstore was necessary because many Ukrainian children who now live in Latvia risk assimilating and forgetting their native language.

"I got the idea when I overheard two boys at a bus stop in downtown Riga. Their school bags had yellow-blue ribbons attached to them, yet they were speaking Russian to each other. As a Ukrainian language and literature teacher, this situation truly saddened me," Artem said.

The founder of the bookstore also adds that there are many Ukrainian children in Latvia who, in a few years, may assimilate and forget the Ukrainian language:

"These young people, who should be the new generation, represent Ukraine in Europe, carry our national idea into the European information space, they risk simply dissolving and losing the main identifier of their people – the language."

Initially, the selection primarily consisted of books for children. However, it was eventually discovered that Ukrainian literature also piqued the interest of adults. The top genres were women's fiction, Ukrainian classics, thrillers, and popular psychology.

The bookstore partners with reputable Ukrainian publishing houses such as Vivat, "Old Lion Publishing House", "A–BA–BA-HA-LA–MA-HA", KSD, "Ranok", "Vikhola", and "Olexander Savchuk Publishing House". It also collaborates with the Ukrainian Center at Harvard University, which is dedicated to translating Ukrainian authors into English and seeking partnerships with European publishing houses.

For reference:

In Colombia, the University of La Sabana introduced the first Ukrainian bookshelf in the country. The Ukrainian Bookshelf project is being implemented under the patronage of the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, and the Ukrainian Book Institute. This project is being implemented so that foreigners can better understand Ukrainian history and the country's modernity.

Earlier, the President's wife, Olena Zelenska, donated a selection of books to the Vatican library, which will form a Ukrainian bookshelf.

It was also reported that on November 12, the Museum of Church Heritage (Bažnytinio paveldo muziejus) in Vilnius hosted a presentation of a Ukrainian-language audio guide, the fourth in Lithuania, and an information publication of the museum in Ukrainian.

On the occasion of International Children's Day, the Embassy of Ukraine in Switzerland replenished the Ukrainian-language shelves of the Bern library with children's fiction.

As previously reported, Ukrainian bookshelves have opened in the United States, South Korea, and Romania.

As a reminder, over 800,000 books have already been handed over in Ukraine and abroad as part of the campaign "For Ukrainian children – a Ukrainian book" campaign.

In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine [Ukraine's government – ed.] has allocated UAH 10.7 billion for culture and media in the budget for 2024, UAH 466 million of which has been earmarked to finance the Ukrainian Book Institute in 2024.