Culture

The Hidden Canon: Discover Ukrainian literary classics

A Kyiv Independent project backed by the Ukrainian Institute

Ukrainian InstituteLearn more
'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

News Feed

Explainer: Why Russia's frozen assets are Europe's hot topic once again

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Months after the idea was thought to have been laid to rest, some EU capitals are reviving the push to use 200 billion euros ($233 billion) in Russian assets, frozen in the bloc since 2022, to support Ukraine. The bloc's 27 countries are straining under the financial burden of bankrolling Ukraine, essentially on their own, while Kyiv is facing a massive budget hole amid Russia's unabating aggression. Meanwhile, the Russian threat has been forcing Europe to divert funds from

'We will sow' — Odesa farmers defiant in face of relentless Russian assaults

ODESA OBLAST — Volodymyr Varbanets sinks his hands into a mound of wheat, letting the golden kernels slip between his fingers. This year brought an unusually good harvest, the best since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, he says. Behind him, hundreds of metric tons of wheat, barley, lentils, and peas fill the farm's warehouses. "But we cannot sell it," he sighs. For more than 20 years, Varbanets has worked this land, sowing and harvesting crops across 206 hectares. At 76, he stil

About Culture

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.
News Feed