The Federation of European Publishers (FEP) has invited the Ukrainian Publishers and Booksellers Association (UPBA) to join the organisation as a ‘special guest’.
The FEP says that since the very first days of the conflict “it has voiced its condemnation of the Russian war against one of our European neighbours: Ukraine”.
The FEP’s President Peter Kraus vom Cleff has written to the President of the Ukrainian Publishers and Booksellers Association, Oleksandr Afonin, inviting the UPBA to be a Special Guest of FEP. “Ukrainian publishers are European publishers and FEP wants to show its full solidarity to colleagues in Ukraine,” it says.
In the letter, Peter Kraus vom Cleff says: “This attack is a war on Ukraine and it is a war on Europe. Although it may seem derisory when one sees the bombs killing brave Ukrainians, European publishers want to support their fellow colleagues in inviting them to be Special Guest of our joint Federation.”
He adds that the FEP will liaise the UPBA to support them as much as possible with “concrete actions”. The FEP will also invite the UPBA to forthcoming meetings.