Last year over 10,000 books were published in Ukraine, surpassing the boom of the late 1980s. However, in reality there are 4.5 times fewer books in the market now. Ukraine publishes less than one book per capita every year (compared to 3.5 in Russia, 6 in Belarus, 12 in Poland, and 19 in Germany). To increase books’ pressrun, we need to adopt new laws and make changes to some of those in effect. State Information Committee chairman Ivan Chyzh refers to this as a political decision completely supported by Prime Minister Kinakh. To solve the book publishing issue effectively, Mr. Kinakh directed the state information committee to hold a meeting with book publishers and distributors in early June to work out common decisions and recommendations.
The Ukrainian House Palace of the Arts has opened the Book Garden 2002 Second International Specialized Exhibition. Its main organizer was the State Committee for Information Policy, Television, and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine headed by its chairman Ivan Chyzh. Over 200 participants are represented at the exhibition. However, it seems that last years’ situation with the declared number of participants and the real one (tending to decrease) has repeated itself. Among the participants are Ukrainian book publishers and printing enterprises along with Russian, Belarusian, Slovak, and Turkish ones. The cast of participants is traditional for this book forum: eighteen state book publishers presenting their best publications, the regions represented by less than a half of Ukraine’s oblasts, book factories (Polihrafknyha [Polygraph Book], Presa Ukrayiny [Press of Ukraine], Globus [Globe], etc.), and a few renowned publishing houses issuing books on a modern level (Osnovy [Basics], Makhaon [Mahogany], etc.) with unusually poor expositions. Among the foreign participants Russia is the best represented with eight stands.
Premier Anatoly Kinakh was present at the Book Garden’s opening, stressing the importance of book publishing development for the state and its cultural and information space. After his speech prime minister familiarized himself with the exhibition and mixed with publishing house representatives.
