On April 2, the exhibition “Books That Walk With You Through War” opened to visitors in Chernivtsi in the South-West of Ukraine. The exhibition will run until May 2.
The exhibition features 15 stories of children and adolescents for whom books became a way to cope with the experience of full-scale war. In situations of isolation, limited communication, or power outages, reading helped them stay calm, organize their thoughts, and briefly escape from reality.
Among the books on display are children’s literature, school textbooks, Ukrainian and world classics, works by Stephen King, and even the Constitution of Ukraine. Together, they reflect the many ways in which reading served as a source of comfort and self-support.
Book at the Heart of the Stories
“Although this exhibition is set against the backdrop of war, it differs from all our previous projects. At the heart of these stories are books… We wanted to give children and teenagers a chance to respond to the common accusation from adults that the younger generation doesn’t read. In fact, they really do!” says Svitlana Osipchuk, Program Director of the War Childhood Museum Ukraine.
The exhibition also includes an interactive component: visitors are invited to share their own stories and leave the names of books that supported them during difficult times. During the project’s preliminary presentation, more than 1,600 people contributed such responses.
Chernivtsi has become one of the cities that has hosted thousands of internally displaced Ukrainians since the start of the full-scale invasion. The museum team emphasizes the importance of understanding what texts people currently living in the city choose to read.
The exhibition is accompanied by a program that brings together discussions, meetings with researchers and writers, and educational events for both children and adults. Its aim is to create a space for dialogue about children’s experiences of war, memory, reading, and ways of making sense of traumatic events through culture and education.
The project was previously presented at the International Book Arsenal Festival in Kyiv last year. In Chernivtsi, it will be shown in an updated format, offering visitors the opportunity to take part in panel discussions and readings.
The exhibition is supported by the ProPeace Programme Office in Ukraine in partnership with the Ivan Mykolaichuk Cultural and Art Center.
