The BestsellerFest 2026 literary festival will take place in Lviv from August 7 to 9, featuring presentations of new releases and meetings with star authors such as Artem Chekh, Irena Karpa, Artem Dron, Max Kidruk, and others. We highlight the most interesting new books worth paying attention to at the festival.
“Emma,” Jean Reno
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The BestsellerFest 2026 will host the presentation of the debut novel “Emma” by actor Jean Reno, star of “Léon,” “French Kiss,” and “Les Visiteurs.” He will personally introduce the book during an online meeting with Ukrainian readers. The work tells the story of a dangerous yet captivating adventure of a young French masseuse who, upon arriving to work in the Sultanate of Oman, not only encounters fierce passion but unexpectedly becomes involved in a state conspiracy. As a result of this forced adventure, Emma, who had been immersed in deep reflection for several years after her mother’s death, discovers within herself not only a gift for healing but also the talent of a secret agent…
“Bunny,” Mona Awad
“Bunny” is a captivating psychedelic novel by Mona Awad, named the best book of 2019 by Vogue, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. Among its admirers is Margaret Atwood herself, who called the novel a vivid example of gothic satire.
The plot centers on Samantha Mackey, a graduate student in fine art and creative writing. Samantha, unusual and intelligent, studies at Warren University, where she is surrounded by a group of four glamorous wealthy women who call each other “Bunnies” and view Samantha as an outsider.
But everything changes when she receives an invitation from her classmates to the legendary Salon of Unseemly Women and discovers herself inexplicably drawn to these girls. For them, Samantha is willing to even leave her only friend, Ava. As she explores the sinister yet alluring world of the Bunnies, she joins a ritual workshop where glamorous student writers bring their horrific creations to life. The boundaries of reality begin to blur, and creative experiments become deadly dangerous…
“The Beach,” Marina Perezagua
Marina Perezagua is one of the most popular Spanish-language authors, known for her delicate, psychological, confessional prose about physicality, motherhood, and identity. Her novel “The Beach” is precisely that: a poignant story about a woman becoming a mother while simultaneously experiencing a painful break from her own mother. The young woman undergoes a dangerous childbirth, and her prematurely born daughter hovers between life and death. It is at the moment the protagonist most needs support that her own mother distances herself—and this search for her place and role becomes the central conflict of “The Beach.”
“Letizia Kuryata and All Her Imaginary Lovers to Whom She Lied About Her Father,” Vera Kuriko
Vera Kuriko, a talented reportage writer, editor for “The Ukrainians,” and author of several non-fiction books, has written her first novel.
Literary critic Anastasia Levkova writes about the novel “Letizia Kuryata and All Her Imaginary Lovers to Whom She Lied About Her Father”: “If you didn’t know the publication year of this book and opened it at random, you might think it’s a novel from the 90s—chaotic love affairs, various beds, and endless conversations. You turn to another page—and you realize: this is a book about family, beyond a specific time, about how we carry the wardrobes of our parents’ and grandparents’ skeletons throughout our lives—and what if one of them was a madman? You turn again—and there’s no doubt: it’s our time, wartime. And this book is not about the men who cross her path, but about the one who initiated this path—the father.
The father is a soldier since the ATO era, so this novel is also about war. At the same time, it doesn’t traumatize with descriptions of shelling, torture, or captivity. Such writing about war is perhaps the only possible way today—to avoid re-traumatizing: a significant part of the events is caused by the war, but the combat itself is only outlined with strokes, details, and mentions. The fact that the action takes place in the Chernihiv region (partially in Uzhhorod) is not defining: this book exists outside of space and time. There is much irony and subtle self-irony, witty dialogues, and humor—despite the drama. This makes the novel light—it can be read in a weekend.”
“Icarus,” Ilya Lukyanenko
“Icarus” is a Kharkiv-based novel about the unpublished manuscript of Valeryan Pidmogylny. The events take place in the 1960s when the protagonist, Yurko, returns to Kharkiv from Germany and begins searching for Valeryan Pidmogylny’s forbidden manuscript. But this story quickly goes beyond literature—and becomes a choice: to remain safe or to take a risk to find the truth.
“Icarus” accurately conveys the atmosphere of Kharkiv in the 1960s, offers interesting details about the writers of the “Executed Renaissance,” and features a charismatic hero who dares to open a page for which regimes have erased people without a trace.
“Collapse,” Max Kidruk
On August 8, at BestsellerFest, Max Kidruk, one of Ukraine’s most popular authors whose books have print runs exceeding 70,000 copies, will present the novel “Collapse” from the “New Dark Ages” series, which is set in the 22nd century. “Collapse” continues the story begun in the book “Colony,” released in 2022 by the publishing house “Borodaty Tamarind” and which has since sold over 78,000 copies. As the author himself notes, “New Dark Ages” is a story about how, despite all the achievements of civilization, humanity does not change, and neither an increase in lifespan nor even the transformation into a two-planet species guarantees humanity’s salvation.
In the second book, we are met with a thrilling story about loss of control and human pride, which sets civilization on an irreversible path toward darkness.
“Modern Ukrainian Prose and Poetry in Vogue Ukraine,” Vol. 2
The second volume of the collector’s edition “Modern Ukrainian Prose and Poetry” includes new works by sixteen prominent writers, written exclusively for Vogue Ukraine. The theme that runs through the entire book is feelings and sensuality: authors write about falling in love and passion, about love crises, and the search for oneself in relationships.
Among the authors are Serhiy Zhadan, Yurko Izdryk, Sofia Andrukhovych, Iryna Slavinska, Gaska Shiyan, Irena Karpa, Halyna Kruk, Artem Chekh, Lyubko Deresh, Anna Gruver, Artur Dron, Karina Savaryna, Roman Malynovsky, Yevheniia Pobizhna, Roman Holubovsky, Misha Honcharenko.
“Cognac for Mr. Churchill! Historical Foodfiction,” Vsevolod Polishchuk
For anyone who enjoys popular science publications, the new release “Cognac for Mr. Churchill!” is worth noting—an unusual historical non-fiction about gastronomy.
What worries Stalin when Roosevelt eats cheese? Why does Churchill choose not whiskey, but cognac in the most difficult moments? Will a roasted goose help Oppenheimer with the atomic bomb? Why does Stanisław Lem eat halva to relieve stress? This book features lively stories about famous people and their food preferences, which can reveal a lot about their characters. The author, Vsevolod Polishchuk, believes that people are more themselves at the table than in the stands.