Books from Ukraine
The Ukrainian Book Institute is a government entity, part of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
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True stories2019Chaplains. In service of God and Ukraine
by Kovtunovych Tetiana, Pryvalko Tetiana
The book contains the memories of military chaplains of various denominations who, since the beginning of the war in the east of Ukraine, performed pastoral care among Ukrainian soldiers.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2022Tempting Fate, Hardening the Will: Ukraine and Ukrainians in the XX - Early XXI Century. In Three Books
by Larysa Yakubova (project coordinator)
The transformation of a mental Ukraine into a real Ukraine, people - into a nation, a territory – into a state is a semantic axis of this trilogy. Book 1. Ukraine and Ukrainians in 1917-1939 The first book is devoted to the interwar period – a key stage of ethnic modernization and mobilization of Ukrainians, the culmination of the Ukrainian Revolution, and the battle for Ukraine in the context of the First World War. Book 2. Between World War II and the Cold War: Wars in the Destiny of Ukraine The second book tells about Ukrainians in the Second World War, after which the Ukrainian lands were united within one state, and in the Cold War, which made possible the sovereignty of Ukraine. Book 3. 30 Years of Independence: Challenges, Trials, Answers The third book is dedicated to the period of Ukrainian Independence and summarizes the thirty years of Ukrainian post-totalitarian transit. Contradictions of internal development, geopolitical challenges, three modern Ukrainian revolutions, and the Russian-Ukrainian war are the focus of understanding the path of Ukraine and Ukrainians in the global world.
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Memoirs202277 days of February. Ukraine between two symbolic dates of the Russian war ideology
by Marichka Paplauskaite (Compiler), Authors: Inna Adrug, Anna Argirova, Kateryna Babkina, Tetyana Bezruk, Oleksandra Gorchynska, Inna Zolotukhina, Vera Kuriko, Olena Livytska, Olga Livytska, Svitlana Oslavska, Marichka Paplauskaite, Eva Raiska, Anya Semenyuk, Zoya Khramchenko, Margarita Chimyris, Iryna Yaroshynska
As a child, she could not understand why people in films about the blockade of Leningrad were always lying down. And when Mariupol was besieged by the Russians, and she and her husband lived for many days without water, food and heat under constant shelling, she realized that when you lie down, you save strength and energy. "77 Days of February" included reports written by journalists of the Reporters media in the period between February 23 and May 9 — two symbolic dates for Russian military ideology. The invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine stopped the number of days and pushed Ukrainians back to the intervening time, where February — the month of the beginning of the great war — still lasts. In the meantime and in these candid stories, there is pain, fear, hatred, and sometimes despair. But the main thing is hope. This is a bare nerve and an honest voice of the new Ukrainian reality.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2016300 Years of Solitude: Ukrainian Donbas in Search of Senses and the Roots
by Stanislav Kulchytsky, Larysa Yakubova
In recent years, Donbas has been at the epicenter of a heated public discussion. This book is a comprehensive study of the historical experience of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It highlights several problems of rapid social and economic growth and painful stagnation, powerful migration processes and the multi-ethnic population structure and, as a result, an unstructured identity and short historical memory. The authors explore the origins of the Soviet mythologemes of the "people of Donbas”, “All-Union stokehold”, “melting pot”, which have been influencing the formation of the consciousness of the region’s population and the collective image of the Ukrainian Donbas for a long time. This book presents a detailed analysis of the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the factors that preceded the creation of quasi-states, as well as possible ways and tools to overcome the social and cultural consequences of the military conflict.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2021The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine's Past and Present
by Serhii Plokhy
The Frontline presents a selection of essays drawn together for the first time to form a companion volume to Plokhy’s The Gates of Europe and Chernobyl. Here he expands upon his analysis in earlier works of key events in Ukrainian history, including Ukraine’s complex relations with Russia and the West, the burden of tragedies such as the Holodomor and World War II, the impact of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and Ukraine’s contribution to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Juxtaposing Ukraine’s history to the contemporary politics of memory, this volume provides a multidimensional image of a country that continues to make headlines around the world. Eloquent in style and comprehensive in approach, the essays collected here reveal the roots of the ongoing political, cultural, and military conflict in Ukraine, the largest country in Europe.
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True stories2020ISOLATION. Secret prisons of Donbas in the stories by people saved from torture and death
by Daria Bura, Iryna Vovk
The book of recollections of those, who went through hell and survived: prisoners of Donetsk and Luhansk prisoners, infamous "Isolation", Donbas colonies. These are the stories of those who were exchanged as prisoners of war on December 29, 2019, those who kissed the Ukrainian land at the "Maiorsk" checkpoint. Despite the controversy over the exchange itself, those who sacrificed their lives, families, peace, and health returned home. Ukrainian soldiers, journalists, bloggers, military aides, doctors, and locals talk about the life "before" and "after", about the life of Donbas during the war, about the atrocities and crimes of militants, about the horrors and tortures in captivity.
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True stories2022Ferocious February 2022. Evidence of the first days of the invasion.
by Darya Bura, Evgenia Podobna
On February 24, 2022, Ukrainians woke up in another reality: the sky was torned by the roar of Russian fighter jets, Russian missiles were flying at Ukrainian cities, subway stations have become the shelters. In this new reality, the concept of absolute security no longer existed. The first days of the war were very emotional and scary. You don't know what to do, you can't keep up with the news. You can't do anything because of these news... For not allowing anyone to rewrite our history, to put in it something that did not exist, like the Russians do when they swear black is white, we decided to collect people's memories of the first days of a full-scale invasion. To remember...
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Biography & True StoriesOctober 2020Volunteers
The Strength of Those Who Care
by Natalka Poznyak-Khomenko
The book Volunteers: The Strength of Those Who Care tells about volunteering as a social phenomenon that has powerfully declared itself since 2014, when conscious citizens joined in the development and support of the Ukrainian army. The book includes 28 stories told in first person, which represent various aspects of volunteering related to the Russian-Ukrainian war: support for the army, aid to the wounded, assistance for the population that became hostage to this war.
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Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)2021The Death of Cecil the Lion Made Sense
by Olena Stiazhkina
This is the first novel Olena Styazhkina wrote in Ukrainian, and the theme of embracing Ukrainian identity is central to the plot. It takes place in Donbas over the course of several years: the reader follows the journeys of characters who are, at first, held back by Soviet mentalities. As a result of war, they undergo important changes relating to their understanding of themselves and their country, like the dentist who becomes a military surgeon or the cosmetics saleswoman who becomes a sniper shooting instructor. The characters go through a whirlpool of historical events and are reborn as Ukrainians.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2020I Will Mix Your Blood With Coal. Understanding Ukrainian East
by Oleksandr Mykhed
In 2014, the Russian army, with support from local militants, had occupied parts of Ukraine’s two easternmost regions, the regions that were the beating industrial heart of the socialist utopia in the Soviet era, and where coal extraction has exhausted both the human population and the natural resources. The regions have suffered from the post-Soviet chaos for decades. In the late 2016, the author set out on a research trip to the East to answer the common questions of those who’ve never been to the region. He takes his readers on a complicated, painful and hopeful trip across the Ukrainian East, guiding them through conversations with the locals, archival research, and conversations with prominent cultural fi gures like writer Serhij Zhadan or released after 700 days of terrorist captivity historian Ihor Kozlovskyi that were born in the region. The readers will meet the miners, the Belgian and British investors who founded the eastern cities, the priceless coal, events of the First and Second World War, the bloody Soviet history, the activists who are now working to improve the country, and sweet memories of the lost paradise.
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Anthologies (non-poetry)2021Not Only Kobzar. The Anthology of Ukrainian literature. 1792–1883 (in two books)
by Mykhailo Nazarenko
Ukrainian literature of the 19th century was far more exciting and diverse than one might imagine. Mykhailo Nazarenko's anthology contains one hundred and fifty texts that are not known or very little known to the modern reader (some of them are reprinted for the first time after 150 years of oblivion). These texts help to understand Ukrainian literary movement in a wider context. The compilation starts with the "The Song of the Black Sea Army" by Anton Golovaty. This novel precedes the famous "Aeneid" and marks the beginning of the printed literature "in the contemporary Ukrainian language". "It is not time..." by Ivan Franko is the last one in the compilation and describes further evolution of the independent Ukrainian literary word. The compilation also contains fifty essays about each of the authors: why did they write in a particular that way and about what? Why did some turn out to be forgotten, while others are remembered for their works?
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Literature & Literary Studies2019Bow to the tree
by Borys Khersonsky
Borys Khersonskyi is a famous poet, essayist, and translator, laureate of many international awards. Bow to a Tree is a collection of the author’s poems in Ukrainian, his auto-translations, and verses translated by Serhiy Zhadan, Volodymyr Tymchuk, and Oleh Honcharenko. The author travels through his poems from the most ancient times to the birth of Christ, the starting point of the hope revival through redemption. From the Soviet regime, he lived under to the present - a time full of pain, loss, war, and all the same faith and hope.
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True stories2019The Life
by Oleg Sentsov
The Life is a collection of autobiographical stories. This is a book for everyone who has not yet found answers as to why Oleg was assisting Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea, why he spoke openly about the war in Ukraine initiated by Russia, and why he went on a hunger strike and didn’t request clemency. These stories acquaint us with the author during a period of internal searching and transformation that was important to him, when he was trying to understand who he was and which path he will take further and never give it in. The collection is the first publication of Oleg Sentsov’s writings in Ukrainian, with the translation presented side by side with the original Russian texts. Life is an extremely important book for Oleg, and even while imprisoned, he took an active part in its publication.
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Literature & Literary Studies2021Bad Roads
by Nataliia Vorozhbyt
Nataliia Vorozhbyt became famous when she worked as a screenwriter on the cult TV series To Catch the Kaidash, based on the life of the Ukrainian classic writer Nechuy-Levytsky, and even played a role in it as a supporting actress. Her play Bad Roads was written for the Royal Court Theatre in London; it was also staged by the Kyiv Academic Theatre of Drama and Comedy and later adapted into a hit film. Bad Roads consists of six episodes: they are the stories of ordinary men and women whose fate brought them to Donbas during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Some episodes have even shocked audiences, like the episode where a naked eighth-grade schoolgirl is found in a military dugout. Disputes over Bad Roads are still raging, but they only manage to increase interest in Vorozhbyt’s work.
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True war & combat stories2018Girls cutting their locks
by Podobna Yevgeniya
The book is full of memories of 25 women in the military who fought in the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" as a part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and volunteer units in 2014-2018.
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Literature & Literary Studies2017Anthology of Ukrainian Poetry of the Twentieth Century. From Tychyna to Zhadan
by Anthology
The twentieth century was a time for the brightest and daring ways of expressing themselves in creativity. It was a time to experiment with form and content, and the historical revolution was reflected in the texts of writers and poets. How Ukrainian poets saw this time and how they felt will be clearly shown by the Anthology of Ukrainian Poetry of the Twentieth Century. From Tychyna to Zhadan. Thanks to this book, the reader will find the already known works by Dmytro Pavlychko, Vasyl‘ Stus, Lina Kostenko, and get acquainted with the work of those who became famous at the end of the century — Yuriy Izdryk, Oleksiy Zhupanskiy, Serhiy Zhadan, Galyna Kruk. You may also meet and come to love other talented names. Ivan Malkovych gathered everyone under one cover and became the compiler of this collection himself, a poet, publisher and owner of the publishing house "A-ba-ba-ha-la-ma-ha".
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Historical fiction2021Bat-Ami by Oleksiy Nikitin
by Oleksii Nikitin
Ilya Goldinov, Ukrainian Jew boxing champion, had won the second place in the Soviet All-Union championship when World War II started. After Germany invaded Ukraine, he joins the guerrillas in the forests behind the front line. Only by a lucky coincidence does he survive and he joins the regular army as a soldier before being sent by the secret service on a life-threatening mission to occupied Kyiv. This family saga, full of inconceivable twists and turns, is told in such a thrilling, detailed and touching way that it captivates its readers after only a few pages. Bat-Ami is not a documentary novel, but its story is inspired in part by the author‘s family recollections and is based on the documentary files relating to 1941-42 secret service operations from the archives of the Ukrainian Secret Service released only in 2011, as well as from other Ukrainian archives, in particular the Museum of the Dynamo Kyiv Sports Club and Yad Vashem organisation. The fight of Ukrainian patriots for independence of Ukraine from Russia, the USSR, and liberation from German occupiers captures your attention and can become the vital lesson for present-day Ukraine.
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FictionJune 2023I am Yustyna
by Karina Savaryna
Since February 24, thousands of women like Justyna have crossed the border every day. With children, pets, and sick parents, they ran away from the horrors brought by the Russian army into Ukraine. Justyna recently retired but hasn’t lost a taste for life. But the war changed everything. An intelligent and smart teacher, she becomes a refugee in Europe, along with thousands of other Ukrainian women. “Who are you?” “I am Justyna,” she would always answer the question that seemed to come from everywhere. Together with Justyna, readers travel through a long road toward the search for the self in the world that dramatically expanded and yet existed only at home, in Ukraine. Foregrounding the traumatic experience of becoming a refugee, the loss of home, and a reconsideration of a new life, the novel answers the question of who really is Justyna as well as every Ukrainian woman who lived through the experience of forced displacement.
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The Arts2021Icons on the Ammunition Boxes
by Sonia Atlantova, Oleksandr Klymenko
This publication is dedicated to the artistic project "Icons on the Ammunition Boxes" by Sonya Atlantova and Oleksandr Klymenko. The icons painted on fragments of weapons boxes brought from the front lines are silent witnesses of the war in Eastern Ukraine and at the same time evidence of the victory of life over death (not only symbolic, but also real). Since the spring of 2015, the project had a charitable purpose of supporting the Mykola Pyrogov First Voluntary Mobile Hospital that provided medical assistance to the Ukrainian army and to the civilians in combat zone of Donbas.
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Children's & YAJanuary 2022My Home
by Kateryna Tykhozora (Author), Oleksandr Prodan (Illustrator)
The protagonist of this story is a boy who, together with his family, is on his way from his destroyed house to another country. On the way, he tries to understand where his home is now. At the end of the book, he finds out that home is always in your heart and is waiting for you. The book is written and drawn by Ukrainian authors who personally experienced the horrors of war and will be interesting for all people who have lost or left their homes, or for those who are not afraid to know the truth about the war in Ukraine. From 5 to 8 years, 456 words Rightsholders: hanna.bulhakova@ranok-school.com
