‘Not many events like this left’ — A Ukrainian literary festival in a city falsely claimed by Russia
When Russia illegally declared ownership in 2022 over all of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast – despite never fully capturing or controlling much of it — it only strengthened the case for holding a literary festival there, says Svyatoslav Pomerantsev, president of the international literary corporation Meridian Czernowitz.
Hosting a cultural event in the region, despite the risks, was a way to push back against Russia’s territorial claims by affirming Ukraine’s presence and identity.
“In the eyes of the Russians, we are holding a festival of Ukrainian literature on their territories,” he explained with a laugh.
Zaporizhzhia lies in southeastern Ukraine, one of four partially occupied regions Russia has claimed as its own following sham referenda in late 2022 — a move unrecognized internationally. Russia has continued to demand ownership over these territories and Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014, as part of any peace negotiations.
Meridian Czernowitz has hosted literary festivals across Ukraine since 2010, and on June 28-29, it hosted its third annual event held in the oblast’s regional capital of Zaporizhzhia.
There, train lines that were once packed with weekend travelers before the full-scale invasion now roll into the Ukrainian city with nearly empty cars. Russian glide bombs have made life in the industrial hub increasingly dangerous over the past year. The city’s pre-invasion population of 710,000 has dropped as refugees flee westward for safer areas, and the city has seen some of the war’s deadliest aerial strikes for civilians. The front line, roughly 30 kilometers (19 miles) away, inches closer.
Yet in a downtown basement lit by neon lightning bolts, some of Ukraine’s most renowned writers arrived to share their work and meet local residents in a two-day festival to a standing-room-only audience.
“They bomb us every day, but still we have large literary festivals. It lifts people’s spirits.”
More than 150 attendees listened attentively to works about grief, war crimes, love, and the beauty of nature, cheering the authors with standing ovations and waiting in line while clutching stacks of books for them to sign.
“They bomb us every day, but still we have large literary festivals. It lifts people's spirits,” said Pomerantsev.
Artem Kurikhin, a Zaporizhzhian native who teaches Ukrainian language and literature, saw billboards advertising the weekend and came to hear some of his favorite authors — including writer Yuri Andrukhovych — speak.
“There are not very many events like this still in Zaporizhzhia. You have to cling to every opportunity,” Kurikhin said. “The writers performing today are people who talk about Ukrainian culture and literature in a way that’s captivating.”
The organization purchased large billboards throughout the city ahead of the event, but attracting attendees was only their secondary purpose, Pomerantsev explained. More importantly, he wanted residents to look up at the posters and have reasons for optimism in their city.
“This is not poetry for the sake of poetry. It addresses issues with the local mood. Not everything is good, but at least we give people some piece of joy, faith,” Pomerantsev said.
A writer for life, a soldier temporarily
Ukraine’s literary traditions are deeply woven into Ukraine’s national identity. Writers have historically been prominent public figures, holding political and activist roles. Famous Ukrainian writers like Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, and Lesia Ukrainka are featured on the country’s banknotes and are credited with shaping Ukraine’s identity, embodying its spirit, and championing its independence.
Today, the war is shaping a modern generation of literary stars, as their latest works reflect and explore the experiences and emotions of a country under attack.
The festival emphasized poetry but featured a range of literary styles, from fiction to nonfiction. Yaryna Chonohuz, a poet and drone pilot in the Ukrainian Marine Corps, presented works from her new poetry collection “Night Saffron,” while Andriy Lyubka shared excerpts from his essay collection “War from the Rear,” which tackles his experiences when the writer suddenly became a front-line volunteer.
After seeing cruelty, blood, war, pain, everything, everything in this war (in Ukraine), I realized that there was little of this in my text.”
Audience members shook rain from a summer downpour off their umbrellas as they entered the underground space. Many wore traditional embroidered vyshyvankas, and the majority of them were women – a reminder that much of Ukraine's fighting-age male population is currently in the military.
When Ukraine's full-scale invasion broke out, author Artem Chekh was working on a historical fiction work about a Ukrainian serf who finds himself fighting in the American Civil War. Having served in Ukraine’s Armed Forces in 2015-2016, Chekh sent an incomplete draft to his editor in case he didn’t survive and went back to battle.
When he returned to complete what would become his novel “Song of the Open Road,” he found himself rewriting sections to reflect how fear and trauma can permeate an entire continent beyond the front lines.
“After seeing cruelty, blood, war, pain, everything, everything in this war (in Ukraine), I realized that there was little of this in my text,” he told the Kyiv Independent.
At the event, he read from his latest book, “Dress Up Game,” released this year, which explores psychological transformations that take place throughout the chaos of war.
Chekh, who fought at the front lines, including in Bakhmut, one of the bloodiest battles of the war, now serves in a communications unit in Kyiv, but he identifies first and foremost as a writer.
“Writer is my vocation for life,” he explained. “The role of soldier is temporary. I hope it ends soon. I don’t want to hold a weapon in my hands.”
In the future, he hopes foreigners will show sustained interest in Ukrainian works beyond violent themes.
“I do not want our literature to be militarized and received only through the prism of war,” he said. “I want the world to learn about other sides of Ukraine and its literature. There are so many — interesting, original, especially the poetry.”
Ihor, a Zaporizhzhia native who fought in Zaporizhzhia’s 110th Territorial Defense Brigade under the callsign “Vikin,” attended both days of the festival.
“Almost every day, KABs (glide-bombs) or Shaheds arrive, but we try to live a full life,” he said.
“We have a great desire to live in a normal and healthy country. And culture and language determine the core of a nation.”
Note from the author:
Hi, I'm Andrea Januta, thank you for reading this article. Telling stories from regions like Zaporizhzhia is meaningful but difficult work. To fund our reporting, we rely on our community of members from around the world, most of whom give just $5 a month. If you liked this article, consider joining our community today.
The Kyiv IndependentKate Tsurkan