'The extraordinary writers in this volume articulate the taste the terror and the dialect of
war they command their powers of description to face a shameless empire intent on annihilating
them' Ellena SavageA selection of Ukraine's leading writers convey the reality of life within
Ukraine during the first year of the invasion On 24 February 2022 the lives of Ukrainians were
devastatingly altered. Since that day many of Ukraine's writers have attempted to fathom what
is happening to them and to their country. This anthology brings together writing from inside
Ukraine by Ukrainians available in English for the first time. Here they document everyday
life ponder the role of culture amid conflict denounce Russian imperialism and revisit their
relations with the world especially Europe and its ideals as they try to comprehend the
horrors of war. From tearing-downs of Russia's use of culture as justification of the war to
moving descriptions of nights spent sheltering in corridors poignant snatched moments with a
husband on his single night away from the army to descriptions of the eerie weather in the
months leading up to the invasion as if nature was trying to warn Ukraine these essays reveal
the texture rawness and reality of life in Ukraine under war as never before.
