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The Hidden Canon: Discover Ukrainian literary classics

A Kyiv Independent project backed by the Ukrainian Institute

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'Hemingway Knows Nothing': Ukraine's writers are redefining literature of war
Culture

'Hemingway Knows Nothing': Ukraine's writers are redefining literature of war

by Kate Tsurkan

When war, loss, and unimaginable suffering become routine, a book can offer a kind of lifeline — especially one by a writer who has lived through such an ordeal and tried to make sense of it. At the start of Russia’s full-scale war, some Ukrainians speculated if they’d see the rise of their own Ernest Hemingway: a writer whose books would not only capture the experience of a generation but come to define it. Yet it soon became clear that the old paradigms of war literature no longer spoke to t

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How education in Ukraine treads the line between preparedness and militarization

"I liked flying drones the most," 16-year-old Anna Alekseeva says. "We had simulators, and we could even fly them in the corridors between classes." Alekseeva is among the first students to finish the redesigned Defense of Ukraine course, a two-year subject that becomes compulsory for all 10th and 11th graders in September 2027. Instead of weekly classroom lessons, students spend a full day a month, six to eight hours, at specialized training hubs learning tactical medicine, navigation, drone

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Our reporting on literature, films, art, and traditions from Ukraine and the latest news on culture in Eastern Europe.

Ukrainian culture
Ukrainian culture has survived centuries of Russian attempts to appropriate Ukrainian art, silence Ukrainian artists, and erase the Ukrainian language. Modern Ukrainian writers, filmmakers, and musicians — some of whom are serving on the front lines — continue to develop Ukrainian culture and fight for Ukraine’s future.
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