From the Russo-Ukrainian War to French-Ukrainian cultural initiatives and publications

On By europeancollectionsIn English, French, New Acquisitions, The Department of Collections and Academic Liaison, Ukrainian1 Comment

Today, on the 4th anniversary of the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022), we would like to highlight French-language publications on the topic as well as a series of cultural events organised in France by the Institut français and the Institut Ukrainien. The programme  Le Voyage en Ukraine – la culture contre-attaque will take place From December 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, with the support of the French and Ukrainian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Culture. This includes film, with a retrospective of Oleksandr Dovjenko / Dovz︠h︡enko (see the critical works by Barthélemy Dovjenko (1970) and Marcel Oms (1968) at the UL and earlier blog posts about him), music, theatre, dance, literature, exhibitions, and conferences.

Ukrainian writers involved include:

  • Serhiy Jadan / Serhiĭ Z︠H︡adan (1974-), whose works are available in both Ukrainian and English
  • Sofia / Sofii︠a︡ Andrukhovych (1982-), author of Amadoca (Lʹviv: Vydavnyt︠s︡tvo Staroho Leva, 2020) and Tout ce qui est humain (Montrouge: Bayard, 2023) among others
  • Maryna Kumeda (1985-), author of L’amour en temps de guerre. Récits d’Ukraine (Éditions de l’Aube, 2025, on order)
  • Luba Yakymtchouk / Li︠u︡bov I︠A︡kymchuk (1985-), author of Apricots of Donbas (Sandpoint, Idaho: Lost Horse Press, 2021) and contributor to
    Oda do Ukraïny (2022)
  • Yuliia/Iuliia Iliukha (1982-), author of My Women (128 LIT, Brooklyn, New York, 2024) which was BBC News Ukraine Book of the Year.

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Francophone literary prizewinners, 2024-2025

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Every year, the library acquires books that have been awarded important French and francophone literary prizes. Our list features traditional French prizes, such as the Goncourt and the Femina, but also newer French overseas prizes such as the Prix littéraire Fetkann! Maryse Condé, and prizes from other francophone countries, such as the Comar d’Or in Tunisia. Below is the list for 2024-2025:

Comar d’Or:

2024: Malentendues : roman / Azza Filali. Elyzad, 2024. C208.d.1252.

2025: Écris, tu seras aimé des dieux / Mahdi Hizaoui. Arabesques. On order.

Grand prix du roman de l’Académie française:

2024: Le rêve du jaguar / Miguel Bonnefoy. Éditions Payot & Rivages, 2024. C207.d.8267.

2025: Passagères de nuit : roman / Yanick Lahens. Sabine Wespieser éditeur, 2025. C208.d.389 (also winner of the 2025 Prix littéraire Fetkann! Maryse Condé de la mémoire).

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Chancing upon the unsearchable : the January 2026 Ukrainian items of the month

On By europeancollectionsIn Ukrainian1 Comment

Readers who use the main Reading Room of the University Library will be familiar with the enormous reference collection that fills its shelves.  Its scale sometimes means that adding a new book to the collection requires taking something off to make space.  Earlier this month, I removed our sole volume of a 1970s 2-volume dictionary of Old Ukrainian, yet when I took it back to my desk to reclassify it, I couldn’t find its record on the catalogue.


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Recent donations: French books from Isabelle McNeill’s library

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Dr Isabelle McNeill (1979-2025) was a Fellow in French at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, specialising in French cinema and film theory.  She wrote Memory and the Moving Image: French Film in the Digital Era (Edinburgh University Press, 2010, available online and in print). When Isabelle sadly passed away last year due to cancer (see her college’s obituary), her books remained at Trinity Hall, some joining the college library, or the Medieval and Modern Languages and Linguistics library, and some, mainly French, joining the University Library.

As expected, most of them were in film studies, including biographies of directors (Jacques Tati / Michel Chion. Paris : Éditions de l’étoile : Cahiers du cinéma, 2009) and actors (Isabelle Huppert : vivre ne nous regarde pas / Murielle Joudet. Nantes : Capricci, 2018) or popular literature and its film adaptations and vice versa (Les mystères de Paris / Eugène Sue ; dir. Judith Lyon-Caen. Paris : Gallimard, 2009 or the comic book series La colère de Fantômas / scénario, Olivier Bocquet ; dessin et couleur, Julie Rocheleau ; inspiré des romans “Fantômas” de Pierre Souvestre et Marcel Allain. Paris ; Montréal : Dargaud, 2013-2015). Continue reading “Recent donations: French books from Isabelle McNeill’s library” →

Allied Airborne Leaflets: WW2 Official Publications at Cambridge University Library

On By europeancollectionsIn Dutch, French, Special collections, The Department of Collections and Academic LiaisonLeave a comment

Cambridge University Library is a treasure trove of Second World War sources, including original French material: in that category, one cannot miss the Chadwyck-Healey Liberation collection (1944-1946). We previously wrote about other collections such as the of National Socialism collection at CCA-CCC.26 which contains mainly German material but also includes some French language items (see the blogposts on Nazi, antisemitic, anti-Communist and Anti-Allied propaganda).

As a Legal Deposit Library, the UL holds folders of Allied propaganda material now in the Official Publications (OP) collection. These were produced in Britain, mainly issued by the London-based Political Warfare Executive, PWE, formed in 1941 by the Foreign Office to produce and disseminate propaganda, including broadcasts and loudspeaker operations; or the Psychological Warfare Division, PWD, also created in 1941 by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. Some of the fascicules are from the USA and were published by the Office of War Information, OWI.

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Z Novym rokom! = Happy New Year! : the December 2025 Ukrainian item of the month

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The final 2025 Ukrainian item of the month opens the door, appropriately, to the new year.  Pid podushku chy pid i︠a︡lynku? : antropolohichne doslidz︠h︡enni︠a︡ svi︠a︡t (Under the pillow or under the tree? : an anthropological study of the holidays) is a 2023 book by Dar’i︠a︡ Ant︠s︡ybor about the Christmas/New Year holidays in Ukraine.  During the Soviet period, Christmas-like customs (decorating trees, present-giving) were applied instead to New Year celebrations; for many Ukrainians, that remains the case, with Christmas more focused on religious aspects.

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Christmas ebooks

On By europeancollectionsIn ebooks, The Department of Collections and Academic LiaisonLeave a comment

The University Library is closed from 24 December to 1 January, but our electronic collections of course remain available.  We wish our readers a peaceful and restorative holiday and provide you with a list of some Christmas-related ebooks to dip into until our physical doors open again on the 2nd of January.

British pantomime performance / Millie Taylor.
Christmas and the British : a modern history / Martin Johnes.
Christmas at the Royal Institution : an anthology of lectures / by M. Faraday, J. Tyndall … [et al.] ; editor, Frank A.J.L. James.
Christmas books for children / Eugene Giddens.
Christmas in Germany : a cultural history / Joe Perry.
Christmas, ideology and popular culture / edited by Sheila Whiteley.
Collaborative Dickens : authorship and Victorian Christmas periodicals / Melisa Klimaszewski.
Dickens, death, and Christmas / Robert L. Patten.
Hearing the gospel through Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas carol” / by Cheryl Anne Kincaid.
Inventing the Christmas tree / Bernd Brunner ; translated from the German by Benjamin A. Smith.
The Christmas Encyclopedia, 4th Ed. / William D. Crump.
The Christmas truce : myth, memory, and the First World War / Terri Blom Crocker ; foreword by Peter Grant.
The Oxford handbook of Christmas / edited by Timothy Larsen.
The public work of Christmas : difference and belonging in multicultural societies / edited by Pamela E. Klassen and Monique Scheer.
Victorian Christmas in print / Tara Moore.

Happy Christmas!

Mel Bach

Two perspectives on the “Languages and Literatures of the Francophone World” conference

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On 21 November 2025, the Maison Française d’Oxford hosted the French studies Library Group’s Study Day on “Languages and literatures of the Francophone world in libraries and archives“, organised by Sophie Defrance (British Library) and Irene Fabry-Tehranchi (Cambridge University Library), with the support of the Service Enseignement supérieur, recherche et innovation of the French embassy. For those who could not attend, some of the speakers’ presentations are now available on the FSLG website, along with abstracts and biographies. We are especially delighted that writer Eve Guerra’s keynote speech, “D’une langue l’autre: imitation, variations et altération” is featured. You can read below Reflections on her talk by the French Embassy bursary Julia Ribeiro Thomaz and a Conference Report by the FSLG bursary Weiao Xing.

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Pragda Complete Film collection: stream Hispanic cinema at Cambridge University libraries

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Originally posted on the Electronic Collection Management blog

We are pleased to announce that Cambridge University users now have full access to Pragda STREAM following a successful trial earlier this term.

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CAL’s year in numbers

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While we approach the end of the calendar year, this post looks at acquisitions and cataloguing stats for the department of Collections and Academic Liaison for the 2024/25 academic year (August-July).  CAL is made up of two teams: ebooks@cambridge, which is in charge of the acquisition of ebooks for teaching and learning (using a budget which includes a contribution from the Colleges), and CAL Research, which acquires ebooks and print books in English and other European-root languages from around the world for research needs.  This post covers both teams. Continue reading “CAL’s year in numbers” →