2024-08-04 07:38:39
The first Ukrainian bookstore in the Czech Republic opened in Prague’s Žižkov. In a business called Shevchenko’s Mustache, interested parties can buy publications in Ukrainian or Belarusian of all possible genres every day. Local Ukrainians are interested in them, the company’s Instagram account has gained almost five thousand followers in three weeks, say co-owners of the bookstore Andriy Nosač and Oleksandr Salfetnikov.
Due to the Russian aggression, the Czech Republic now has temporary protection for 350,000 refugees from Ukraine, according to the data of the Ministry of the Interior, there are a total of almost half a million of them living here.
“It is the first bookstore in the entire Czech Republic, no one has opened anything like this before us,” emphasizes Oleksandr Salfetnikov. “There were some small online stores here, but we are the first to open a brick-and-mortar bookstore,” adds Andrij Nosač.
In the shop named after the national poet Taras Ševčenko, they offer everything from children’s books and publications for teenagers to non-fiction to fiction. “Mostly people buy practical motivational publications on how to plan their day, how to do business or about management. There is also an interest in popular contemporary authors,” mentions Nosač.
The shop located at Lupáčova 7 offers, among other things, works by the writer, poet and playwright Ivan Petrovyč Kotljarevskyj. The author, who lived from 1769 to 1838, is considered the father of modern Ukrainian literature.
Contemporary creators are represented here, for example, the poet, writer and essayist Oksana Zabužko, one of the most outstanding contemporary Ukrainian novelists, Serhiy Žadan, who presented the Czech edition of his novel Boarding School last year at the World of Books fair, or Stanislav Aseyev, who was released from prison before the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in occupied Donetsk.
Bookstore owners Andriy Nosač (left) and Oleksandr Salfetnikov. | Photo: CTK
In addition to books in Ukrainian, the bookstore also offers some titles in Belarusian. “This is because Belarus is unofficially controlled by Russia and many people left the country due to political problems. The books are an expression of support for these people. They come from the independent publishing house Vesna, which moved from Belarus to the Czech Republic,” explains Andrij Nosač.
Volumes can be purchased at a price that corresponds approximately to prices in the Czech Republic. The average recommended retail price of books, for example, for all novelties of the publishing house Albatros Media for the period January to March 2024, was 374 crowns.
The agency transports goods for Ukrainian bookstores to the Czech Republic from a warehouse in Lviv. “This is not our first store, we already own Prometheus publishing house in Ukraine and we have contacts with all Ukrainian publishing houses that sell books to us. We plan to open a warehouse in Prague, bring Ukrainian books there and then sell them online throughout the European Union.” outlines Salfetnikov.
“When the bookstore opened three weeks ago, we had 1,300 books, most of them sold out on the first day of opening, when over 400 people came,” explains Salfetnikov. At the beginning of August, they plan to import more than two thousand new items.
Two years ago, a public library for Ukrainians who fled from Russian aggression was established in the premises of the new Svitlo community center near Old Town Square in Prague. It offers readers books in their native language. “People told us that they know about such a library, but they prefer to buy from us, they want to have their own books at home,” concludes Andrij Nosač.
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