Book Arsenal Announces Event Dates and Opens Its Open Call

Announcing the 2026 Book Arsenal festival.

The 14th international Book Arsenal festival announced its dates: the literary event will take place in Kyiv May 28–31.

The event's focus theme will be curated by human rights defender, servicemember, civic activist, and journalist Maksym Butkevych. A separate track — the 'Writers' Program' — will be led by author, volunteer, and soldier Andrii Liubka.

Alongside the date announcement, organizers opened their Open Call. Publishers, bookstores, small publishers (with a catalog of two to ten books), and illustrators can apply for booth space at the fair through February 28, 2026. Special conditions apply for certain categories of participants.

The festival program also includes the Book Arsenal Fellowship Program, an annual professional program for foreign publishers and literary agents, designed to strengthen international ties and support Ukraine's book industry.

As always, the festival will combine a book fair with a program of discussions, presentations, performance and music events, plus dedicated children's and professional tracks.

Mystetskyi Arsenal general director Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta noted that the team is already actively working on preparations for the event and aims to make the festival meaningful and relevant to today's challenges.

Book Arsenal has run in Kyiv since 2011. Over that time, the festival has become one of Eastern Europe's most influential literary and arts events, and in 2019 received international recognition as the world's best literary festival.