Frances Pinter and publishers in Ukraine: a story of civilisation triumphing over strife

Frances Pinter is a well-known publisher in the international academic publishing community. Her career took her to Central and Eastern Europe in the nineties where she worked for George Soros’ foundation. Wondering how western publishers might extend a helping hand to Ukrainian publishers now, she recently set up SUPRR (Supporting Ukrainian Publishing Resilience and Recovery). She’s recently returned from a visit to the Ukrainian city of Lviv where she attended the Lviv Book Forum. Below she offers a vivid and perceptive vignette of what life is like in Ukraine at present.

“Lviv is a lively and cultured Central European city with a disproportionate number of outdoor cafés and restaurants – all distinctively and creatively decorated. They all close early in the evening, though,? as everyone must make their way home for the curfew. The first thing I was shown at my lovely Hotel Leopolis was the bomb shelter.

On the afternoon of Saturday the 7th I visited the makeshift graveyard for soldiers. It was on land that must have once been a very large car park, just outside the city’s main cemetery. Each grave was flooded with fresh flowers that were clearly tended to daily. Pictures of young men were on every grave and each also bore several 10-foot-high Ukrainian flags, billowing in the wind. There was just enough room between each grave for a small bench where relatives could sit and mourn.

Yet, the town was buzzing. Designer shops, children playing – everyone smiling, displaying grit while hiding their fears and tears.

I worried a bit on that Saturday. It was Putin’s birthday and I’d recently watched a lecture by an American professor, a Putin expert, who said he was known to do especially cruel things on his birthday. Lviv felt safe, though – it had been the victim of bombings a week earlier. But what about the rest of the country? I needn’t have worried. Putin was probably licking his lips as the bombs from Hamas rained down on Israel, creating more global chaos.

That evening I was at the opera watching La Traviata, which I’d previously seen at the Bolshoi in Moscow a quarter of century earlier – in a different world. As I looked down from my box seat, something seemed odd. Then it hit me. The audience was made up mostly of women. The men were at the front. There were no tourists.

The Lviv Book Forum was held in a 16th-century building called the Powder Tower – as it was originally constructed to hold ammunition. Now it is a funky conference centre, complete with art gallery and café. Outside publishers sold their books from tents, drawing in the locals who relished the opportunity to examine many new books. The main panel sessions were in both English and Ukrainian, simultaneously translated, and are now available online.

As with all the work I do, building up and brokering trust is essential. Framing the assistance I’m offering is key. It’s not charity. It’s just an opportunity for Ukrainian publishers to build bridges with their publishing peers in the west as they go down the hard road of EU accession. In the process they learn the way we’ve all learned and continue to do so – from one another.

Earlier that week I had dinner with Timothy Garten Ash. He’s on a whirlwind tour promoting his new book, Homelands. He’s always inspiring, and optimistic. I think we agree roughly on the long wave theory of history. Things get bad and then they get better, then bad again but with some lessons learnt.

Just after 2016, following Brexit and the rise of Trump, there was much handwringing over the decline of western power and values. It got worse and many books stand testimony to the sombreness of that period. But recently, at least from my vantage point, I’ve detected the fight coming back in people. We have more tools available for better research and analysis. Yes, by one definition 72% of the world’s population is ruled by autocrats, but we still have more freedoms than could ever have been imagined centuries ago. I’m beginning to believe that, despite the world having taken a turn for the worse on Putin’s birthday, humankind has the capacity to lift itself out of the mess it’s in.? That’s what I got out of my trip to Ukraine.

A week later a Ukrainian publisher visited me at my home in London. I’m trying to broker a deal for him whereby Ukrainians will have access to BBC learning content. At the Frankfurt Book Fair over 50 Ukrainian publishing houses will be represented. They will have a taste of normal life for a few days and be inspired by the good that we, the publishing industry, can do together.”