A few pages can hold what a novel takes chapters to earn, and Ukrainian short fiction is proving it in real time with a distinguished panel at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurt Buchmesse) is “the world’s capital of ideas since 1949,” bringing together nearly 240,000 visitors including publishers, authors, journalists, representatives from creative industries, and literary fans for five days of literary exhibitions, panel discussions, networking, and open dialogue. For visitors and trade professionals, the Frankfurt Book Fair is one of the most important literary events of the year.
Razom Literature is thrilled to announce its participation in the 2026 Frankfurt Book Fair with a panel entitled “Short Form, Long Reach: Why Small Forms in Literature Matter,” taking place Friday, October 9, 2026 from 15.00-15.50.
Head of Literature at Razom for Ukraine, Kateryna Kazimirova, is joined as moderator by internationally renowned guests Roddy Doyle (Ireland), Uilleam Blacker (U.K.), Pavlo “Pashtet” Belianskyi (Ukraine), and Yuliia Iliukha (Ukraine) for a discussion about the advantages of short-form writing over long-form narratives and the urgent necessity of bringing Ukrainian short fiction into the international spotlight.
Roddy Doyle is the author of thirteen novels, including The Commitments, Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha, for which he won the 1993 Booker Prize, and Chair of the 2025 Booker Prize judges. He is a co-founder of Fighting Words, which was set up to encourage children and young people throughout Ireland to write creatively.
Uilleam Blacker is Associate Professor of Ukrainian and East European Culture at University College London and one of the leading literary translators from Ukrainian into English. He is the author of Memory, the City, and the Legacy of World War II in East Central Europe and a 2023 Booker Prize judge. He co-presents The Ukraine Shelf podcast.
Pavlo “Pashtet” Belianskyi is a Ukrainian writer, screenwriter, and serving soldier born in the Luhansk region. He is a prolific short prose writer, and his autobiographical novel about the war, Bytys Ne Mozhna Vidstupyty, won the 2026 Shevchenko National Prize, Ukraine’s highest literary honor. It was also shortlisted for BBC Ukraine Book of the Year 2024.
Yuliia Iliukha is a Ukrainian poet, prose writer, and journalist from the Kharkiv region. Her short fiction collection My Women was named BBC Ukraine Book of the Year 2024 and shortlisted for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Literature Prize 2025, and translation rights have been sold in 16 territories.
The event marks the launch of the Hryhir Short Fiction Award, named after the Ukrainian short-story master Hryhir Tiutiunnyk and supported by Razom for Ukraine.