Since the start of the war, Russian publishers have released hundreds of books about the “SMO.” Who writes them and who reads them?

Since the start of the war, Russian publishers have released hundreds of books about the “SMO.” Who writes them and who reads them?

In Russia, more and more books “about the special military operation” are being published. They occupy prominent places on store shelves, and they are being added both to extracurricular reading lists for schoolchildren and to the collections of regional libraries.

In 2022-2026, at least 259 such books were published. The largest number of Z-works came out in 2025 — 108, and the most “productive” publisher turned out to be AST, which includes the imprint “KPD,” dedicated to “patriotic literature”

Vyorstka studied books about the war in Ukraine released after the start of the full-scale invasion and explains who is writing what about the war, and how interested readers are in such works.

Read about the role Z-literature plays in the Russian book market on the Vyorstka website (with VPN): Read about what is being published in the Z-literature segment, how it is being published, and who needs it on the Vyorstka website (with VPN):

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