// Events

“Only those most indifferent towards literature…”

“Only those most indifferent towards literature could fail to see the frantic whirl around J. K. Rowling’s book series with her main protagonist, a small wizard called Harry Potter – as lately the whole world has been gripped by Potter-mania”… And who else than A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA was to make the famed Harry Potter speak Ukrainian, and to hold the book presentation so spectacularly, having deeply and long-lastingly impressed all the visitors?

The entrance to the “Mystetstvo” bookstore on the midnight Khreshchatyk sparkled and glistened. But it wasn’t the only thing to make this entrance stand out. A huge lot of children gathered around it, though at that time of the night they should have been seeing dreams long ago. For some time, 24.Khreshchatyk Street turned into 4.Privet Drive, where the story starts in the book. The number of the curious ones was rapidly increasing, thus some time before the beginning of the show people had to struggle their ways through the dense rows of nearly a thousand viewers…

Almost like in a fairytale, Hagrid arrived on his motorcycle, holding a swaddling-band in his hands. But it was not a child who was wrapped there, but a newly printed book just from the factory. Further on, accompanied by unstoppable delighted squeals of the children, Harry Potter himself showed up, speaking Ukrainian, with a slight accent though…

After rewarding the winner of the Harry Potter twin competition, the Sorting hat defined the first buyers of the Ukrainian version of the book… Harry’s best friends Ron and Hermione together with all the children that were there, removed the spell from the bookstore’s charmed entrance, and thereafter everyone could buy the first Ukrainian “Harry Potter”. Every book was accomplished with a small present – a sticker resembling a lightning scar that made Harry Potter stand out from other children. Thus, A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA gave everyone an opportunity to be wizards that night…

In the night from 13 to 14 April the ordinary Kyiv dwellers and the city guests could watch a real wonder: really, where in Ukraine is it possible to see a big queue? In the middle of the night? And not just a queue, but a queue for a book? For a book in Ukrainian? It can happen only in the case when Ivan Malkovych and his A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA Publishers get to work…

"The Book Review", №5, 2002