Ukrainian Authors in English: Essential List

A talented Ukrainian poet Lyuba Yakymchuk said in a recent talk at STANZA poetry festival that the aggression against Ukrainians did not start in 2022, not even in 2014. It dates back to 1708 (“The Rape of Baturin”, when then-Ukrainian capital was destroyed by the tsar) and records centuries of oppressions, prohibitions of Ukrainian language in print and speech, ethnic cleansing, Holodomor, executed literary Renaissance and more. The war was never limited to battlefields or bombings of historical centres of the cities.

Ukrainian story is a story of an underdog. Today, as the largest territory in the world has for the first time in decades faced the limits of its force, Ukraine can be seen as a bearer of the much needed knowledge on how democratic societies can deal with totalitarian ones. And so in this article I’d like to offer a list of books by Ukrainian authors who, in my humble opinion, can help to see how a culture that has been denied the right to exist, has still managed to survive, resist and stand up to the proverbial Big Brother.

Ukrainians have been denied their history and culture, their voices were muted, art and fiction subjected to cultural appropriation or destruction. And it is vital to let Ukrainian voices be heard now. Who knows, maybe they have something very important to say to the world. But also, knowledge is a great…