Louisa Cameron's mission to Ukraine: 'It was a joy to hand them bulging bags of books'

As Russia's onslaught on Ukraine has destroyed printing presses, bookshops, and other cultural centres, an Irish bookshop owner has been doing her best to help  

Louisa Cameron of Raven Books (left) in Ukraine with translator Yaryna Dmytrovska and librarian Iryna Pigura

When the Factor Druk printing press in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was hit by a Russian missile on May 23, it struck at the very heart of the embattled country’s literary culture. Seven employees were killed, 21 were injured, and 50,000 books were destroyed in the attack on the printing facility, the largest in Ukraine and one of the biggest in Europe.

For Louisa Cameron, owner of Raven Books in Blackrock, Co Dublin, the news was particularly devastating, as she had visited Ukraine just weeks before to facilitate the delivery of a consignment of books and also meet with representatives of PEN Ukraine, which represents writers and publishers in the country.