Every Child Deserves Their Own Story - Our event at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2025

Picture by Akim Karpach

Once again in 2025, Tales of EUkraine took part in the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest trade fair for books. Hosted by our project partner, the Ukrainian Book Institute, we organised the event Every Child Deserves Its Own Story on Wednesday, 15 October.

The session brought together several speakers who shared their experiences with the project, each representing a different part of the ecosystem involved in TEUk.

Alessandra Luchetti, Deputy Director of the European Education & Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) at the European Commission, opened the event by emphasising the project’s importance as one of the ways for the Commission to show solidarity with Ukraine through culture.

Picture by Akim Karpach

Enrico Turrin, Deputy Director of the Federation of European Publishers, project coordinator, presented the key results achieved so far, including more than 100 titles in the Tales of EUkraine catalogue and an estimated 290,000 copies published or commissioned in the upcoming months. He also showcased several bilingual editions published through the project and highlighted events organised throughout the project’s duration.

Picture by Akim Karpach

André Störr, publisher at Germany’s Friedrich Mauke Verlag, shared how he first became involved through Books Without Borders and is now one of the project’s most active participants. His publishing house has published several bilingual titles, including Stories of E-E-Eka the Excavator by Ukrainian author Viktoria Amelina, killed by a Russian missile in 2023.

Picture by Akim Karpach

Ivan Fedechko, Rights Sales Manager at the Ukrainian publishing house Old Lion Publishing, spoke about the project’s impact on his company, not only through published titles but also by opening new connections with European publishers they had not previously worked with.

Picture by FEP

The director of Unisoft, a Ukrainian printer based in Kharkiv, reflected on how initiatives like Tales of EUkraine help restore hope in regions where doing business remains difficult due to the ongoing war and proximity to the Russian border.

Picture by FEP

Dr Viktoriia von Rosen, Chairwoman of the Ukrainian Coordination Centre in Frankfurt, read excerpts from Viktoria Amelina’s Stories of E-E-Eka the Excavator and described how her organisation has helped distribute tens of thousands of books published through TEUk across Germany.

Picture by Akim Karpach

Finally, Olena Odynoka, Deputy Director for International Cooperation at the Ukrainian Book Institute, thanked all speakers for their contributions and invited the audience to follow the UBI’s upcoming activities.

Picture by FEP

Tales of EUkraine continues to prove that stories can cross borders, and that every child truly deserves their own story!

About Tales of EUkraine

About the project Tales of EUkraine (TEUk) is an opportunity for European publishers to support their Ukrainian counterparts and to display their solidarity to the most vulnerable victims of the conflict by doing what they do best: publishing books. This project will bring together European and Ukrainian publishers to deliver bilingual children’s books to several communities hosting Ukrainian refugees, fostering integration and mutual understanding. TEUk has built a catalogue of Ukrainian children’s books available for publishers to acquire the rights to and publish them in bilingual editions. The project partners will purchase the part of the print run to be distributed to displaced children and organise its distribution to the Ukrainian refugee communities, whilst publishers will be invited to promote the book to their national communities. TEUk will facilitate the integration of Ukrainian children in their host countries, increase the knowledge of Ukrainian culture across the ...

Tales of EUkraine event at the Frankfurt Book Fair

One year later, Tales of EUkraine gets back at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest trade book fair in the world! We are excited to return to the most prestigious event for the book sector and cannot wait to show all the progress we have made since our last time in 2023 . We are proud to be hosted by the Ukrainian Collective Stand . Join us on Wednesday 16 October , from 15:00 to 15:45 at stand B64, Hall 4.1 . Our speakers: Arnaud Pasquali , DG Education and Culture, Creative Europe Programme, European Commission Enrico Turrin , Deputy Director, Federation of European Publishers Olena Odynoka , Deputy Director, Ukrainian Book Institute Grzegorz Majerowicz , Board Member, “Fundacja Powszechnego Czytania” (Universal Reading Foundation) Nestoras Poulakos , Vakxikon Publications Andre Störr , Verlag Friedrich Mauke During the event, we will present the results achieved by the project so far and we will have contributions from publishers and partners who joined Tales of EUkraine...

Tales of EUkraine at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2024 - A recap of our event

Tales of EUkraine came back at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest trade book fair in the world, on Wednesday 16 October! The project was officially launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair two years ago, and at this year's event, we announced some of the main results achieved so far. Together with our project partners, we were joined by some of the publishers and other associations who believed in TEUk's mission and participated in the project. The event was opened by our Ukrainian partner, the Ukrainian Book Institute , represented for the occasion by Deputy Director Olena Odynoka . She stressed the importance of TEUk for Ukrainian displaced children and the relevance of the partnership between Ukrainian and European publishers for the Ukrainian publishing sector. During his presentation, Enrico Turrin , FEP Deputy Director , showcased the project's main achievements two years from its beginning: so far, more than 140,000 books have been already published and TEUk is in line...

Tales of EUkraine

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