Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature

In this collection of dispatches, Stanislav Aseyev attempts to understand the reasons behind the success of Russian propaganda among the residents of the industrial region of Donbas. For the first time, an inside account shows the toll on real human lives and civic freedoms that citizens continue to suffer in Russia’s hybrid war on its territory.

The poems in The Voices of Babyn Yar convey the experiences of ordinary civilians going through unbearable events leading to the massacre at Kyiv’s Babyn Yar. Conceived as a tribute to the fallen, the book raises difficult questions about memory, responsibility, and commemoration of those who had witnessed an evil that verges on the unspeakable.

Babyn Yar brings together the responses to the tragic events of September 1941. Presented here in the original and in English translation, the poems create a language capable of portraying the suffering and destruction of the Ukrainian Jewish population during the Holocaust as well as other peoples murdered at the site.

Mondegreen tells the story of a refugee from Ukraine’s Donbas region who has escaped to Kyiv at the onset of the Ukrainian–Russian war. Written in beautiful, experimental style, the novel shows how people—and cities—are capable of radical transformation and how this, in turn, affects their interpersonal relations and cultural identification.

In the memoir The Torture Camp on Paradise Street, Ukrainian journalist and writer Stanislav Aseyev details his experience as a prisoner for nearly three years at a modern-day concentration camp overseen by the Federal Security Bureau of the Russian Federation (FSB) in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk.

Valerian Pidmohylnyi’s The City was a landmark event in the history of Ukrainian literature. Written by a master craftsman, the novel tells the story of Stepan, a young man from the provinces who moves to the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, and achieves success as a writer through a succession of romantic encounters with women.

Earth Gods: Writings from before the War collects in one book for the first time the early writings of Taras Prokhasko, one of Ukraine’s most prominent contemporary writers. It spans genres and includes Anna’s Other Days, transcriptions of radio addresses titled FM Galicia, and the novel The UnSimple.

In The Length of Days, featuring a wild cast of characters, Rafeyenko combines poetry and wicked humor with elements of magical realism. The novel is set in 2014, mostly in the composite Donbas city of Z—an uncanny foretelling of what this letter has come to symbolize since February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In Felix Austria, the intricate relationship between a wealthy young woman and her orphan servant unfolds against the rich ethnic and cultural backdrop of the late Habsburg empire. Sophia Andrukhovych reconstructs with astonishing detail the atmosphere and the everyday life of the city of Stanyslaviv at the turn of the twentieth century.

In Cecil the Lion Had to Die, Olena Stiazhkina follows four families through radical transformations when the Soviet Union implodes, independent Ukraine emerges, and Russia occupies Ukraine’s Crimea and parts of the Donbas. A must-read novel for those seeking deeper understanding of how Ukrainian history and local identity shapes war with Russia.

In Ukraine, War, Love, award-winning fiction writer Olena Stiazhkina chronicles day-to-day developments in her beloved hometown Donetsk during Russia’s 2014 invasion and occupation of the Ukrainian city with sarcasm, anger, and humor. This is a fierce love letter to her country, her city, and her people.

In Lesia Ukrainka’s rendering, Cassandra’s prophecies are uttered in highly poetic language and are not believed for that reason, rather than because of Apollo’s curse. Cassandra as poet and as woman are the focal points of the drama. The strongly autobiographical Cassandra: A Dramatic Poem is presented here in a sophisticated English translation.

A novel of exuberance and whim—filled with witty asides and unrestrained digressions—that deconstructs the very principles of writing and estranges everyday phenomena, Dr. Leonardo’s Journey marks the highpoint of Ukrainian modernism before Stalin’s repressions. Presented here in a contemporary, deft English translation, the novel is a must-read.

In Serhiy Zhadan’s tragicomedy A Harvest Truce, brothers Anton and Tolik reunite at their family home to bury their mother. Isolated without power or running water on the front line of a war ignited by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, the brothers’ best hope for success and survival lies in the declared cease fire—the harvest truce.

The Forest Song, a play in three acts, unfolds in spirited dialogues between Ukrainian mythological characters and people of the land. It meditates on humanity and nature and recreates local Volhynian folklore. This crowning achievement by Lesia Ukrainka is a testament to the power of love to overcome differences and even bring back the dead.

The Blue Rose, Lesia Ukrainka’s first play presented here in a contemporary English translation, highlights women’s struggles for liberation. Set in Ukraine at the turn of the twentieth century, it follows Liubov, who falls in love with Orest and proposes that they pursue “pure love,” abandoning the traditions of marriage and motherhood.