Hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder

Successful projects in various EU countries have financed Ukrainian children's books for refugee children and families, which were mostly reprinted in the West. A new approach was taken by "Chas Maistriv" and "Edition Bracklo", two independent children's book publishers from Kyiv and Birkenwerder near Berlin respectively, who recently teamed up for a few titles from Ukraine. They adopted a "piggyback process" for their sales cooperative. German, Austrian and Swiss bookshops could purchase original Ukrainian children's books from "Chas Maistriv" at usual bookstore conditions. To make this possible, Edition Bracklo let them use its ISBN number and distribution network in Germany. This concept is humanitarian, economic and sustainable – as well as collegial and forward-looking in the best sense of the word. The publishers Oleg Symonenko and Gabriela Bracklo met exactly one year ago here at the Warsaw Book Fair 2022.