Publications of Kennan Institute alumni presented at the Ukraine country stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair

On October 20, 2016, Dr. Natalia Moussienko, Kennan Institute Advisory Board member, and Dr. Kateryna Smagliy, Director of the Kennan Institute Kyiv Office, presented publications of the Kennan Institute alumni at the Book Fair in Frankfurt.

Their podium discussion «Art, Culture and Education in Ukraine after Maidan: Narratives of Cultural Diplomacy» raised awareness among German journalists, publishers and literary critics about education and cultural reforms in present-day Ukraine. 

At the event, Dr. Smagliy presented the book «The Battlefront of Civilizations: Education in Ukraine», written by Dr. Serhiy Kvit, Ukraine's Minister of Education (2014-2016) and Kennan Institute alumnus. The book is a compendium of Dr. Kvit's articles, speeches, blogs, reviews, and essays that inform a foreign audience about events and issues related to Ukraine since 2008. Dr. Kvit served as rector of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla academy, the oldest university in Ukraine that has led by example as both an agent and a catalyst of critical educational and social change.

Dr. Moussienko talked about her monograph «Art of Maidan» that documents the explosion of artistic creativity in all its diversity during the Revolution of Dignity, 2013-2014, in Kyiv. She also presented the Travelling Exhibit of Maidan Art and its journey through Ukraine and the United States. 

The presentation by Kennan scholars was part of a broader cultural diplomacy effort implemented by the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine and Culture Ministry of Ukraine at the Frankfurt book fair. The program also included literary readings and discussions by the Ukrainian writers and poets Yuriy Andrukhovych, Serhiy Zhadan, Kateryna Babkina, Iryna Tsilyk, and Igor Pomerantsev. Several events focused on Ukrainian avant-garde arts and on the figure of Kazymyr Malevych. The program is available here.

The publication of these English-language monographs, as well as their presentation in Frankfurt, was made possible thanks to financial support from the Kennan Institute and the International Renaissance Foundation.