Polish Writer Jakub Ćwiek Offers Free Publishing Rights to Ukrainian Publisher Zhorzh After Kharkiv Warehouse Attack

Polish writer Jakub Ćwiek has offered to grant a Ukrainian publishing house the rights to one of his books free of charge after it lost an estimated 400,000 books in a Russian attack on a publishing warehouse in Kharkiv.

Ćwiek announced the initiative in a post on Facebook on August 4, saying the offer was intended to help Zhorzh publishing house, one of the publishers affected by the destruction of the Ranok publishing warehouse.

The author said he learned about the attack from Halyna Tkachuk, the Ukrainian translator of his novel Panie Czarowne (The Enchanting Ladies). He also stressed that the most important outcome was that no employees of the publishing house had been killed in the attack.

“Everything else can be rebuilt, because as long as there are people with passion, there is hope. I support them with all my heart,” he said.

Ćwiek encouraged readers to support the Ukrainian publisher by purchasing books that remain available in other warehouses.

In addition, he offered publishing rights to any work or series from his catalogue without requiring an advance payment or author royalties for a two-year period.

“Beyond buying books, I can also offer support through my literary resources. If the publishing house decides to do so, it can choose any work or series from my catalogue, and I will grant the license without an advance and without author royalties for two years, so they can recover more effectively,” he said.

The warehouse of Ranok publishing house, which stored school textbooks and books from several Ukrainian publishers, was damaged during a Russian strike on Kharkiv on August 1, triggering a fire, according to Viktor Kruhlov, chairman of the supervisory board of the RNK-Ranok publishing corporation.

In addition to Ranok's own inventory, the facility stored books from publishing houses within the RNK-Ranok group, including Readberry, Zhorzh, Fabula, One More Page, Varvar Publishing, Osnova, Svoie, Korali Books, Kangaroo, and 4mamas, as reported by Chytomo.

Zhorzh publishing house said the attack destroyed nearly all of its remaining stock.

“Around 400,000 Zhorzh books burned in the Russian attack on Kharkiv. That was almost our entire inventory. But we are continuing to work so that you can keep reading your favorite authors and discover new stories,” the publisher said.

Overall, between May and August 2026, Russian attacks destroyed or damaged at least 9.65 million books in Ukraine, dealing a major blow to the country’s publishing sector.

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