How long have you worked at Nebo?

In general, I have been working for about 1.5 years

Please tell our readers who a grant manager is and what skills and experience he should have?

In a narrow sense, a grant manager is a person who seeks funding (grants) for translations and book publishing. Usually, almost every country has its own grant programs to support and popularize literature abroad. My task is to find these programs in accordance with our publishing plan and make sure that we receive additional funds for publishing the book.

I did not have any experience in working with grants (except for being a member of the creative team in one project that performed under a grant) before working in Nebo. But because I coordinated and supervised art projects before and during working in a publishing house, I had fairly developed organizational and managerial skills. The main thing for writing successful application and further management of the grant - to be able not only to generate ideas, but also to accurately formulate thoughts and collect a huge amount of information together, as well as understand the basics of planning and timing.

What was the most interesting and most difficult project you had?

This is an application to Creative Europe with the "Library of Adventures" project. In short, it is really super heavy and voluminous grant application with a lot of details, such as, for example, a detailed plan of work on the project for 2 years with determination of quantitative results. Detailed means the prescription and characteristics of all (absolutely of all) book publishing activities with previous deadlines and dates! And in the case of receiving a grant, you have it later report clearly according to this 2-year plan. However, after making such an application, you generally stop being afraid bureaucratic grant machine) We are now waiting for the results, so wish us luck!

Do you dream of working with a certain country?

I would like to complete the started communication with Australia. I managed to arrange the arrival of Leanne Tanner (author The Keepers trilogy) at Book Arsenal 2020. The difficulty was that it was necessary to coordinate with Ukraine communication between Lian and the grantor in Australia, collect the necessary confirmations, documents, write a bunch of letters, to be cute and businesslike at the same time. However, unfortunately, due to reasons known to everyone, both trips between countries were canceled, yes and Book Arsenal. So, I really, really, really hope that next year it will be possible to introduce Ukrainian readers with Leanne Tanner in person.

How do you see the book market in 5 years?

More small publishing houses, more interesting literature about art - Ukrainian authors, researchers (and it is desirable that specifically, these books were designed not only for a narrow circle of the artistic community, but were also accessible to the most general audience). In general, I want to see a revival in 5 years and a flourishing of the field.

We know you are working on personal projects? Tell me about them, please. Why are you doing this?

Personal projects are mainly research, which my colleague and I strive to turn into a creative hub, exhibitions, books, media materials, etc. Currently, our focus is on outsider and provincial art of Ukraine, as well the culture of flea markets and book markets (such as Petrivka). We even almost managed to implement our project, dedicated to the "Petrivka" book market, because we were already at the final stage of receiving a grant from the UKF, while The Supervisory Board of the fund did not send a request to reduce the project budget by almost 50% from the initial amount, which is quite made its implementation completely impossible.In fact, we had a very unpleasant experience with UKF (not only because budget, but also due to a bunch of other factors, such as delayed communication on their part and interference in the concept already after evaluation of the creative part by experts). Therefore, we made a difficult decision for us and refused to sign grant agreement and, accordingly, from the implementation of the project at the expense of the funds of the UKF. However, despite the failures, we are all they decided to continue working with the topic and look for ways of financing.

Why am I doing this? Well, here the answer is banal and perhaps pathetic, but - because then I feel that everything is not in vain) These projects require more creative input than being a grant manager, so that's my way too maintenance of internal balance (which is only beneficial for both branches of activity).

Favorite book from the publisher?

AT! Everything is simple here - "Max and the superheroes") It was love at first sight, because I adore superheroes, pop culture and comics. This book contains a deep idea about the relationship between parents and children, but it is presented in an interesting and even way in an ironic form + cool illustrations. I highly recommend!

We know you travel a lot. In which country do you dream to visit and how do you like to spend your time relaxing?

Now I dream of visiting at least anywhere outside of Ukraine, I miss traveling and really want to go to Vienna again - to museums, parks, already favorite coffee shops).

Among the immediate plans (for "after the pandemic") are the Azores and, perhaps, the biggest dream is New York.

What do you find inspiration in?

In quite ordinary things, actually)) In the daily routine - breakfasts, coffee, cooking for loved ones, walks and games with the dog, fresh flowers on the windowsill; music (I collect vinyl records); books, pop culture (series!); in observing people, in conversations).