A quote on the state of book publishing in Ukraine, from Alina Pastukhova's Kyiv Post interview with Ivan Malkovych, publisher of the wonderful Ukrainian children's books:

It is always good to compare with Russia. There the government, through various programs, spends $500 million per year on publishing. And we give (through taxes) $4 million to the Ministry of Culture and almost the same to the Ministry of Information. While this year was declared "Year of the Ukrainian Book," the government hasn't spent one hryvnia.

Depressing, isn't it.