BBC News Ukraine has revealed the winners of its 2024 Book of the Year awards…
The gongs are presented in partnership with the Cultural Programme of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The winning titles of the 2024 accolade, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, were announced at a ceremony at the “Sens” bookstore in Kyiv on Thursday 12 December.
British Ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris:
“For two decades BBC Ukraine has been celebrating the very best in Ukrainian literature. Today, as Ukraine bravely defends its independence against Russia’s aggression, its literary scene is more dynamic than ever, telling the story of this great nation. My congratulations to the winners, and to all the poets, novelists, dramatists and writers who stage Ukraine’s cultural resistance.”
The winners are, BBC Book of the Year 2024 – My women (Мої жінки) by Yulia Ilyukha (publisher: Bilka, Kyiv, 2024). BBC Children’s Book of the Year 2024 – And this is not made up! (І ніякі це не вигадки!) by Grasya Oliyko (publisher: A-BA-BA-GA-LA-MA-GA, Kyiv, 2024). BBC Book of the Year: Essays 2024 – “It’s all cool!” Serhiy Kuzminsky and Braty Hadiukiny (“Всьо чотко!” Сергій Кузьмінський і “Брати Гадюкіни“) by Yuriy Roketsky (publisher: Nash Format, Kyiv, 2024).
Launched by the BBC’s Ukrainian service in 2005, the BBC Book of the Year award has witnessed two decades of spectacular growth of the Ukrainian literature, book publishing – and readership in the Ukrainian language.
Bringing to the fore previously unknown writers, publishing panel members’ reviews of the books, and establishing a separate audience competition for the best long-listed book review have all contributed to promoting the culture of reading in Ukraine to the wider public.
Commenting on the winners of the 2024 Awards, BBC News Ukraine editor and Awards panel member, Marta Shokalo, said: “Our three winners showcase the rich variety of issues explored by writers. Yulia Ilyukha’s poignant vignettes of souls, lives and deaths of women living through war conjure up indelible images. Grasya Oliyko’s collection of light-hearted stories offers kids and their parents a much-needed respite. Meanwhile Yuriy Roketsky’s study of a cult band harks back to the first days of Ukrainian rock music as a means of protest against totalitarianism.”
The winning author in each category is awarded a Ukrainian hryvnya equivalent of £1,000. The publishers of the winning books will have the right to use the logo of the BBC News Ukraine Book awards on subsequent editions.
This year’s winners of the Reader of the Year 2024 title and prize (a Kindle EBook) for the best reader reviews are: Andrii Sholtes on Pavlo “Pashtet” Belyansky’s “You can’t retreat from a fight” (Битись не можна відступити) and Iryna Vlasenko on Artem Chekh’s “Song of the open road” (Пісня відкритого шляху).
This year’s awards were judged by:Vira Ageyeva, professor, Ukraine National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, Vitaliy Chepynoha, blogger, Vitaly Chernetsky, professor, the University of Kansas, Svitlana Pyrkalo, writer and Marta Shokalo, BBC News Ukraine editor.
Writer and former BBC journalist Svitlana Pyrkalo is a panel member who, 20 years ago, co-founded the award:
“Despite repeated destruction of printing presses by Russian missiles, we have seen submissions nearly double, since the full-scale invasion, to 150 new titles. Twenty years ago, sceptics were saying that there may not be sufficient new Ukrainian titles of high enough quality even for the short list. The very first award in 2005 proved them wrong. Today, judging this wealth of worthy books is more challenging than ever, but this is a great challenge to have.”
BBC News Ukraine is part of the BBC World Service.
