Books by Ukrainian authors fly off the shelves as British readers continue to support the embattled country – but sales of classic Russian literature have also rocketed
- Works by Ukrainian Andrey Kurkov have seen an 848 per cent increase in sales
- Books by Leo Tolstoy, including War And Peace, have increased by 30 per cent
- Tom Tivnan, from publishing bible The Bookseller, said it ‘makes perfect sense’
Books by Ukrainian authors are flying off the shelves as British readers spark a sales surge in support of the embattled country.
Despite moves by some groups to create a backlash against Russia’s writers over the invasion, sales of classic Russian literature have also rocketed.
Works by respected Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov, best known for Death and the Penguin, have seen an 848 per cent increase in sales, triggering an urgent reprint of his books.
The 60-year-old author – born in St Petersburg to Russian parents and assigned mandatory military service assisting the KGB – has been forced to flee his home in Kyiv with his English wife, Elizabeth, and their three children.
Books by Ukrainian authors are flying off the shelves as British readers spark a sales surge in support of the embattled country (writer Andrey Kurkov pictured)
British-Ukrainian author Marina Lewycka, whose book A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian was a 2005 hit in the UK, has seen her sales jump by 441 per cent in the past month.
Books by the renowned Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov – author of The Master and Margarita – were last week up by almost 50 per cent on pre-invasion sales, according to figures from Nielsen BookData.
Bulgakov, born in Kyiv to a Russian family, wrote about the horrors of the Russian revolution and many of his works were banned by the Soviet government, although Joseph Stalin was known to be fond of one of his plays.
Some cultural bodies have prompted accusations of McCarthyism – the anti-Russian hysteria whipped up during the 1950s – for rushing to cancel Russian culture in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion order.
Works by the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, including War And Peace – which was recently adapted for TV by the BBC and starred Lily James (above) – have increased by 30 per cent
Netflix put its adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina on indefinite hold, and an Italian university course on Fyodor Dostoevsky – the 19th century novelist exiled for defying the Russian state – was withdrawn before it was reinstated after a backlash.
Meanwhile books by Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – author of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – sold almost 30 per cent more last week compared to the same period before the war.
Solzhenitsyn served eight years in the Gulag for criticising Stalin while serving as a Red Army captain in the Second World War.
Classic works by Dostoyevsky have increased by 123 per cent since last year, while works by Tolstoy, including War and Peace, have increased by 30 per cent. By comparison, total book sales in the first week of March were down seven per cent compared to January’s figure.
Some cultural bodies have prompted accusations of McCarthyism – the anti-Russian hysteria whipped up during the 1950s – for rushing to cancel Russian culture in response to Vladimir Putin’s (above) invasion order
Tom Tivnan, from publishing bible The Bookseller, said it ‘makes perfect sense’ that the public has turned to literature both to support Ukraine and to learn more about Russia’s often complex past’.
He added: ‘People are hoping to support Ukraine and are also beginning to think about an area they perhaps haven’t thought or read about before. They are smart enough to disconnect the Putin regime and the oligarchs from the Russian people in general, but also their great literature.
‘With all great literature, like the great Russian masters, there is a sort of universality that resonates with people. They write about the human condition and in reading them we realise that people from 19th century Russia – or indeed modern day Russia – have many of the same difficulties, hopes and dreams that we have in the west.’
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