[Press release] European publishers with Ukraine

To mark the 24 February anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FEP supports the initiative launched by the Voices of Children Foundation, giving voice to children who experience war on a daily base

The Federation of European Publishers, which represents 29 national associations of publishers (books, educational material and scientific journals, in all formats) in Europe, has been working with its Ukrainian counterparts for the whole year. For example, the FEP has invited the Ukrainian Publishers and Booksellers Association to join as a member. It has participated in fundraising with the Ukrainian Book Institute and recently concluded a project with the Commission that will support the publication of bilingual books (in Ukrainian and a number of European languages) in the coming months; Tales of EUkraine.

On this sad day, FEP wanted to support the project launched by the Foundation “Voices of Children”, which recently published a book that gives a voice to children who experience war in their daily lives. FEP President Ricardo Franco Levi said "our duty as Europeans is to protect the values of freedom that we hold dear. The Ukrainians, faced with the abominable Russian aggression, are on the front line to defend these values that we have in common. Through the voices of these children who are growing up surrounded by constant violence and danger, the book published by the Foundation Voices of Children reminds us that the victory of Ukraine is fundamental for our democracies”. (picture enclosed)

The chairwoman of the Culture Committee in the European Parliament, MEP Sabine Verheyen, supports the initiative (see picture enclosed) and will be inviting the founders of the Foundation to address her Committee in the coming weeks.

Azad Safarov, the co-founder of the Voices of Children Foundation, tells how the idea arose: "We have planned this book before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, but circumstances allowed us to release it only now — after a year of hostilities on a scale not seen since World War II. A few years ago, our friend Olya Vovk started recording funny and witty sayings of children. "Oh, and let’s collect such quotes and publish a book!" - we decided then. After February 24, we continued to collect them, and... they didn’t become less funny and interesting, but now they became the voices of children of war.

Olena Rozvadovska, the Head of the Board and co-founder of the Voices of Children Foundation said: "Today, all children of Ukraine are the children of war, because everyone experiences its impact. The voices of children should be heard. They are witnesses of today’s events, have their thoughts about the war and observations. It is important for us to record this time in their quotes so that not to forget the price of Ukraine’s happy future. In this book, we wanted to emphasize that childhood goes on despite everything. After all, childhood cannot be put on hold because of war. Life goes on, there is hope — and that’s what keeps us all going on."

FEP will organise activities with the Foundation when they will be visiting Brussels. On 24 February, FEP will share on social media the pictures of MEP Chairwoman Sabine Verheyen and FEP President Ricardo Franco Levi.

FEP President, Ricardo Franco Levi

MEP Sabine Verheyen, Chairwoman of the CULT Committee

The book "War through the voices of Children"