Supporting Ukrainian kids far from home: how author Halyna Budilova built Little Beetle Press in Ireland

Halyna Telychuk was born in 1990 in Kyiv. Her mother worked in the archives of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine — the country’s leading research library. In the 1990s, in the Telychuk family, books weren’t only read, they were cherished and collected. “I had a large collection of encyclopaedias and even an illustrated English picture dictionary,” Halyna remembers proudly.

After finishing a physics and math-focused lyceum, Halyna went on to study translation. At the age of 17, she was already teaching English as a tutor, working as a journalist, and working as a simultaneous interpreter at international medical and educational conferences. In 2013, she earned her master’s degree in English and German translation, focusing on translation and journalism.

Halyna met her future husband at 18. They soon married, and Telychuk became Budilova. To this day, she calls her husband her best friend and her greatest support. Today, he serves as a combat officer in the Ukrainian army. “I’m incredibly proud of him, though it’s been an extremely difficult experience for our family,” Halyna admits.

In 2016, when the couple’s eldest son, Leonid, was born, Halyna began looking for simple English verses to introduce him to the rhythm of the language. The options were few, so she decided to write her own playful rhymes. That first text soon became the beginning of her professional literary career.

Halyna believed that children’s reading habits needed to be nurtured. It was pretty clear: “If you love reading, your life will never be dull or lonely.”

Halyna Budilova’s first book, The Secret Life of Saint Nicholas, was born during stroller walks with her son in 2016 and was published the following year by the Ukrainian press Fairy Tale. Each copy was personalized — parents could add their child’s name and photo to the cover, making every book unique.

In 2018, she released Good Night, Sunshine, a collection of therapeutic lullabies, published by Wheel of Life Publishing House. At that time, QR codes were still rarely used in the Ukrainian book industry, but Budilova had already integrated them into the design of a children’s book. With a quick scan, parents could listen to the lullabies on YouTube and sing along to their little ones at home.

Over the next two years, Halyna published three more books, and in 2020 came Robbie and the Meanie in a Crown, her response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The book was recommended for reading by Ukraine’s Ministry of Health. It was translated into seven languages and became part of numerous social initiatives across Ukraine.

Budilova focused on therapeutic texts that helped children process emotions, face social challenges, and build emotional intelligence. This focus became not just her career but also her passion. That same year, the family welcomed their second son, Lukian, and Halyna began to dream about starting her own publishing house.

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Over the next few years, Budilova went on to publish several more books, many of them having a social component. Nova Poshta, for instance, supported the release of her series of New Year’s books about the adventures of superhero parents. One of her stories — The Troll, the Starship and the Cosmic Pebble — was given away for free at Saint Nicholas’s Residence in Kyiv in exchange for a drawing for the wizard. The total print run reached about 40,000 copies and sold out within just a few weeks.

In January 2022, Halyna released The Snow Giant and Climate Change. The first edition came out with support from the Red Cross, but due to a paper shortage in China, most of the copies ended up as gifts for children, reviewers, the publishing team, and partners.

On February 23, 2022, Halyna was in a studio recording audio for her very first animated film. She had no backup plan in case of war. A few days after the full-scale invasion began, one of the publishing house’s authors, who worked at a major international company, phoned her in the middle of the night to warn that they had been advised to leave Kyiv Oblast immediately. Halyna and her family packed up and fled to Ternopil, where a family friend welcomed them.

Halyna’s husband returned to Kyiv to volunteer and later joined the army. She stayed in Ternopil with their children. Within a month, the constant sound of air-raid sirens was taking a heavy toll on the family. A friend suggested they spend some time with her parents in Ireland to recover and catch their breath. What was supposed to be a short stay stretched on, as the war showed no sign of ending. Halyna knew she had to keep her young sons safe. On April 4, 2022, she and the boys moved to Ireland.

“I used to think life was linear and you could control it and make it better,” Budilova says. “But when the kids were born, I understood: stability and predictability are just a myth, and in life you should never say ‘never.’ The war taught me one more thing: tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, all we really have is today.”

For the first six months of the full-scale war, she didn’t write any fairy tales or poems. Still, she felt their absence deeply. Her two-year-old son, Lukian, was not yet in daycare, so she worked at night. “The hardest part wasn’t the physical strain,” she recalls. “It was emotional: trying to stop crying about the war back in Ukraine.”

Halyna could see that her sons were also struggling with the changes, and she realized a story might help them process the reality of war. Out of that came her poem My Toys Cry Under the Bed. It became a therapy for her and her children, releasing emotions they had all been holding inside. Around the same time, she began her first book in exile, The Sunflower Lion. The heartfelt response from readers convinced her that her writing was more than relevant — it was needed.

That encouragement spurred her to create another book, this time for an English-speaking audience: Happy Will Be The Days, a story about the experience of forced emigration through war.

At the end of 2022, Halyna Budilova realized she had many more projects she wanted to pursue. She began exploring Ireland’s business landscape more seriously and reached out to the Local Enterprise Office, a local agency that supports start-ups. She says Ireland today offers entrepreneurs a broad spectrum of opportunities — from grants to training programs and government support for small businesses.

Halyna enrolled in the Back to Work Enterprise (BTWE) program, a government initiative that requires business training courses and offers one-on-one support. Participants can also qualify for up to €9,600 in funding to develop their business. This program became the launchpad for Little Beetle Press. The name carries special meaning: one of Halyna’s very first poems back in 2016 was about a tiny beetle, and the initials of her two sons — Leonid and Lukian Budilov — also spell out “LB.”

Today, Little Beetle Press creates books, songs, animated films, and both educational and entertainment content for children, their parents/carers, and teachers worldwide. The press focuses on innovative formats, including augmented reality (AR) titles and Braille books for children with vision loss. One example is Ukrainian Readers, a comprehensive learning system that helps children pick up Ukrainian from the ground up. The series uses short, highly repetitive texts to build familiarity, while interactive exercises expand vocabulary and audio tracks guide kids toward clear, accurate pronunciation.

“Every book we create answers a question,” Halyna says. “Beep Cars helps little ones settle into preschool, Snow Giant encourages kids to care for the planet, A Very Very Angry Book shows them how to cope with big feelings, and Young Ukrainian Readers helps children abroad stay connected to their roots.”

Over time, she joined some of Ireland’s leading literary organizations: Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann, the Irish Society for the Study of Children’s Literature (ISSCL), and the Irish Writers Centre. Membership gave her access to professional networks, opportunities to share experiences, and a stronger platform for her publishing work. It was a part of her strategy to expand her projects internationally: these organizations unite established writers, scholars, and publishers, while opening doors to industry events, grants, partnerships, and cross-border collaborations.

Today, Halyna Budilova lives in Longford County  — one of Ireland’s quietest, greenest corners. Far from tourist trails, it offers the beauty of Ireland’s authentic nature: wide pastures and tranquil lakes that resemble illustrations from Celtic legends. Her sons go to school there, speak English without an accent, and are also learning Irish. “Our next challenge is keeping up their Ukrainian,” she notes with a smile. She adds that she and her husband have learned how to remain a family across distance, no matter how difficult it may be.

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The Irish book market turned out to be one of the most open to new ideas in children’s publishing. Stories that spark imagination, build emotional intelligence, and raise environmental awareness are especially in demand. Little Beetle Press has woven Irish folklore and cultural traditions into its projects. This approach was successful: the latest book, A Magical Summer in Tir na nOg, received positive reviews and became popular among local readers.

Still, Halyna had to adjust to Ireland’s slower-paced business culture, where processes take time and weekends are untouchable. Promotion often depends on word of mouth: a satisfied reader will spread the news quickly through their community. The Little Beetle Press’s core audience includes families with children, as well as libraries and schools.

Marketing in Ireland requires a different approach. While social media plays a key role in the Ukrainian market, in Ireland, success depends on having a strong website and appearing in person at community events — from fairs to book festivals. As Budilova explains, Irish readers put more trust in word-of-mouth recommendations and face-to-face interactions with a brand than in online ads. A website isn’t just a business card, but it’s also seen as proof of a business’s credibility.

Ireland’s laws and market conditions create a favourable environment for small businesses, especially in the creative industries. On the other hand, entrepreneurs face a complicated bureaucracy and numerous tax rules. For instance, businesses must carefully apply VAT regulations when supplying books to EU countries, taking into account transfer pricing.

By the end of 2025, Little Beetle Press is expected to break even. Looking ahead, Budilova plans to broaden her catalogue and bring her books to new markets, particularly in the U.K. and the U.S.

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Halyna once attended the Children’s Book Authors Conference, where the “New Voices” section gave each emerging writer just five minutes to pitch their book. The hall echoed with the Irish language and traditional Irish music.

“As I listened, I kept thinking about how art is a powerful ray of light that can carry us even through the darkest times,” Halyna recalls. “Irish music, I believe, became so beloved worldwide because it carried their difficult history. It’s not just melodies — it’s a form of protest and a way of survival. You rarely hear a sad Irish song, they’re bright and uplifting, like a refusal to surrender. And indeed, the Irish endured 800 years under an imperial neighbour’s rule, yet held on to their culture.” Halyna adds that this is very similar to Ukrainian history. That is why the mission of her publishing house is to preserve the Ukrainian language, culture, and identity, even far from home.

Today, her team includes 10 Ukrainian freelancers, working remotely on different projects. She turns to Irish collaborators only for editing and translation into Irish. Little Beetle Press regularly donates part of its earnings from print and e-book sales to support the Ukrainian army. The publishing house also supplies books for charity fairs run by volunteer groups in Ireland, which raise money to buy ambulances for Ukraine.

Recently, in Belgium, Little Beetle Press hosted a launch for its lullaby collection, The Little Squirrel Wants to Sleep. The event included a charity auction, where a painting by Irish author June Belton was sold. All proceeds went to the City of Goodness project in Chernivtsi, as well as to a battalion currently holding the line in the Donetsk region.

The Little Beetle Press team partners with Ukrainian singer Olya Borodkina, who is staging charity concerts across European cities to raise funds for Ukraine’s Armed Forces. The press also co-published a lullaby collection with the Belgian initiative Children’s Books For Ukraine, which works exclusively with Ukrainian illustrators. This collaboration brought together literature, music, and volunteer work, amplifying the social impact of these publishing efforts across Europe.

The press also plays an active role in helping Ukrainian children settle into new communities. It hosts free events in libraries and cultural centres, giving kids a chance to make friends, find emotional support, and connect with their local surroundings. These activities not only help preserve their cultural identity but also create space for growth within Irish society.

“I realized that creating books for Ukrainians in Ireland is not just my career,” Budilova reflects. “It’s my moral duty — especially to the children. In exile, it’s more important than ever to help them remember where their roots are.”