Last weekend, the new large-scale all-Ukrainian book festival BestsellerFest 2025 took over !FESTrepublic for three days. Over a hundred of Ukraine’s most renowned authors, a book fair featuring about fifty publishers from across the country, and an array of special events — from new releases and exclusive premieres to autograph sessions running late into the evening, vibrant open-air evening concerts, a children’s area, food courts, and lounge areas... At

BestsellerFest, everyone found something unique for themselves!

The main programme of BestsellerFest 2025 focused on twenty star authors of bestsellers: Oksana Zabuzhko, Mariia Matios, Yevheniia Kuznietsova, Illarion Pavliuk, Vasyl Shkliar, Irena Karpa, Yurii Andrukhovych, Pavlo Derevianko, Andrii Kokotiukha, Maksym Kidruk, Andrii Liubka, Anastasiia Levkova, Myroslav Dochynets, Liuko

Dashvar, Iren Rozdobudko, Tamara Gorikha Zernia, Olha Voitenko, Volodymyr Viatrovych, Volodymyr Stanchyshyn, and Yaroslav Hrytsak. However, many more well-known writers came to Lviv, and everyone felt like a star here!

Four events took place simultaneously in halls named after classic writers — ‘Franko’, ‘Stus’, ‘Antonych’, as well as ‘Pravda’. At some of the meetings with bestselling authors, the venues were packed to the limit! And the books flew off the shelves much faster than the autograph sessions wrapped up. The record-holders for continuous book signing were Oksana Zabuzhko and Illarion Pavliuk — their autograph sessions lasted three hours each! An excerpt from Pavliuk’s upcoming novel Knyha Emilia, to be published this fall, was sold at a charity auction in support of the Armed Forces for a record-breaking UAH 106,000! Three signed books by Oksana Zabuzhko also went under the hammer for UAH 100,000.

‘When you see so many books, literary events, and readers gathered in one place, you start to believe again that what you do is not in vain, that it truly matters,’ Yurii Andrukhovych, a renowned Ukrainian writer, shared his thoughts about BestsellerFest. ‘Ukrainian literature, the Ukrainian language are our greatest asset. We won’t win the war if we disregard this strategic value. The BestsellerFest has undoubtedly become a new space where this value is being shaped and strengthened.’

‘At BestsellerFest we brought together mostly prose writers, since we have another festival for poets — Zemlia Poetiv (Poets Shape the Nation), which this year will take place on November 8-9 at !FESTrepublic,’ said Mariana Savka, a poet, publisher, and founder of BestsellerFest. ‘When I envisioned a new format for a literary event, my main goal was to build a community of people united by literature. And we managed to bring together the best Ukrainian authors, publishers, and readers. The festival welcomed around 5,000 visitors over three days! Every one of the 70 events had its audience, and most drew a full house. Another wish of mine is that our writers feel like stars in their own country.’

BestsellerFest also had an outstanding musical component: every evening featured open-air concerts headlined by well-known Ukrainian bands with singer-writers — the charismatic Irena Karpa with Faktychno Sami and the soulful Serhiy Martyniuk with Fiolet. Viktor Morozov, a legendary musician, also performed, alongside Ruslan Horovyi, Mariana Savka, Zinovii Karach, and Yurii Yosyfovych.

BestsellerFest also hosted a fundraiser for the 12th Special Forces Brigade ‘Azov’ of the National Guard of Ukraine. Although the event organizers initially aimed to raise UAH 100,000, book lovers proved generous — nearly UAH 700,000 was collected! All auctions during the festival were conducted by the well-known volunteer Oleksandr ‘Coleman’ Serdiuk.