Sharing Ukrainian history, politics and culture through books.

Our Work

The son of two immigrants born in Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine, Shaye Kirman grew up with both a Russian and Ukrainian identity. The recent war in Ukraine, and Russia’s denial that Ukraine is a separate country — not just politically, but also culturally — motivated Shaye to explore and share Ukraine’s rich history as a distinct cultural, historical and political society. Many Americans have jumped to the defense of Ukraine, but think of it merely as a war zone or a former republic of the Soviet Union. Yet Ukraine has a thousand year history and culture that needs to be known more. To search for and help spread awareness about the “real” Ukraine, Shaye decided to use the tool he knows best: books. He created Free Ukraine Library, a non-profit that places “shoe boxes” of books about Ukraine or written by Ukrainian authors — history books, novels, language books, cook books, and so on — all over New York City (and soon to come, the tri-state area). These books are available at no cost to all, and we ask that “borrowers” return them to the “library” after they read them, or at least pass them on to a friend to continue to spread knowledge.

Learn more about our work on the “what we do” page and please support us via the Donate Now tab .