While journalists and art critics proclaim 2017 as the "Renaissance year of Ukrainian cinema" and publishers predict the "Renaissance of Ukrainian literature" in 2018, the work of the Ukrainian publishing house Glowberry should be admitted. Thanks to Glowberry, contemporary Ukrainian culture goes beyond the state borders and captures new territories – in the strict sense of the words. Only in 2017, four Glowberry’s books for children were published in China: The Secret of a Fake Coin, The Secret of a Stolen Pot, The Mystery of an Old Bakery, and Mom Hurries Home. Another one, The First Trip, was issued in Sweden at the end of 2017.
The Secret series (The Secret of a Fake Coin, The Secret of a Stolen Pot, The Secret of an Old Bakery) tells about adventures of a young detective girl and combines an encyclopedia, a children's detective and a board game. From the middle of 2017, this series (Beijing Ruyi Xinxin Publishing Co., Ltd) and Mama Hurry Home (Changjiang New Century Culture and Media Ltd. Beijing) were published in Chinese, and appeared on the Amazon and book stores in China.
According to the Chinese side, Glowberry children's books can become a real bestseller in the Chinese market, so BeiJing Bright Culture Development Co. Ltd has signed an agreement with Glowberry on the granting of rights for 6 years. China also acquired the rights to publish the Secret series in digital format, so this year books will appear on the main commercial Internet platforms of the country.
‘The original format of books – a children's detective with elements of encyclopedia, as well as amazing illustrations, aroused great interest in the Secret series in Chinese book market. Three publishing houses already competed for the right to issue a series under their name. We created these books consistently, carefully preparing each story with a wonderful children's author Yuri Nikitinsky – the winner of numerous literary contests (including Diplomas of the Union of Journalists of Ukraine and Korney Chukovsky Prize), and a popular illustrator Mikhail Aleksandrov (his paintings are kept in museums of Ukraine and Russia, galleries of Germany, Italy, France and the USA). The success of books in China has pushed us to continue the series and release a new edition of the trilogy in Ukraine’ – shared Olga Cherepanova, CEO and creative producer of Glowberry.
In the autumn 2017, another book of the publishing house, The First Trip, was issued in Stockholm. Glowberry team worked on it with Kyiv artist Tatiana Goryushina from 2014 to 2016. Since 2009 Tatyana has been working in Sweden, and now she lives there and has already established her own Tyanachu publishing house. The First Trip was realesed under this brand in autumn, and the book immediately gained the love of adults and children.
‘The illustrations in the book do not completely reflect Swedish traditions, but, nevertheless, the audience met The First Trip very warmly, and the book is well-received, even by local libraries, which is very important in this country. Large stores contact the publishers by themselves to make orders’ – Tatiana Goryushina comments first successes of the book.
2017 became fruitful for the Ukrainian publishing house Glowberry, but the mentioned projects only prolong the list of its international victories. Five years ago the first book from the series about the detective girl, The Secret of a Stolen Pot, was published in Lithuania, and in 2010 and 2013, the rights to publish the book Mom Hurries Home were acquired by Art. Lebedev Studio in Russia.
It is worth to admit that Mom Hurries Home happened to be a true headliner for Glowberry. The idea of the book belongs to Svetlana Dorosheva, the world-famous illustrator and author, and Olga Degtyareva, who has many successful printed and interactive projects, including ones with Glowberry publishing house, worked on illustrations
Since 2016, Glowberry works together with Ukrainian studio Animagrad on creation of an animation series based on Mom Hurries Home. In 2017, the project was selected to take part in five key events of the world's animation industry: the Animation Production Day in Stuttgart, the CARTOON 360 in Barcelona, the pitching of Annecy Animation Festival, the Co-Production Forum in Toulouse and pitching at the Ottawa International Animation Festival Ottawa. The idea of the series and its visualization received positive feedback from experts in the international film market, and representatives of Western animation studios got interested in the joint production of the project.
2018 promises to be the same fruitful: negotiations on co-production of animation series Mom Hurries Home will continue, and new ones just emerged – concerning the sale of rights to such books as Miracles Repaired, that came out in Ukraine the end of December 2017, as well as on new book series, to be released in Ukraine in the middle of the year.
FYI: The Ukrainian creative production of multimedia content for children Glowberry was founded in 2009. The company began with the creation of illustrated books for children, in 2010 developed the first in Ukraine book application for iPad, and currently is also developing a children’s animated series Mom Hurries Home. Glowberry Production became part of the FILM.UA Group in 2016.
Mom Hurries Home is a series continuing a successful brand: a book with the same title was published in Ukrainian in 2010 and very soon became popular among children and their parents. An interactive version of the book for Android and IOS enjoys immense success and has been downloaded over 50,000 times. The book was republished several times in Russia, and this summer the book was published in China. Mom Hurries Home is an animated series for children and adults alike who believe in miracles and magic which can happen right on the familiar city streets and even in the comfort of one’s own home. Lyosha’s mom and dad always hurry home to their son Lyosha (Lesyk in Ukrainian) and find themselves in magic adventures and surprising situations. But they still make it to the family dinner on time. As for their stories, they inspire Lyosha and his friends for their own new games and adventures. The series is produced by Animagrad studio.
In June 2017, the animated series “Mom Hurries Home” won the 10th Contest held by the Ukrainian State Film Agency and was awarded state financing in the amount of 40% of the film’s total budget.
Glowberry production became a part of FILM.UA Group in 2016.
