Contemporary Ukrainian War Poetry

In Ukraine, a daily and nightly struggle continues — a fight for freedom that means life itself. Ukrainian poets also take part in this battle for the light of tomorrow. They travel across Ukraine, visiting villages and towns near the frontlines to read their poems, to bring the joy of literature and the beauty of words to the people who live there, especially to children. They also travel widely around the world, bearing witness through their poems to the war, but also to what Ukraine truly is. Ukrainian poetry at this moment is a sip of freedom, a bandage for a wounded soul, an embrace that makes the world a better place. -Excerpts from the foreword by Alla Tatarenko “Three Years of Resistance: Poetic Testimonies,” from the Anthology of contemporary Ukrainian poetry „Ukraine 2024. Voices and Images“, published by Croatian PEN Centre, 2025.

One of the authors included in the aforementioned anthology is Halyna Kruk (1974), an award-winning poet, prose writer, translator, and scholar from Lviv, Ukraine. She is the author of six books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and four books for children. Her works have been translated into more than thirty languages. Halyna Kruk is a member of the Ukrainian PEN. Poetski tren has artistically arranged one of her poems and permanently included it in its digital catalog. The video's production involved author and reciter Gordana Kovačić, composer and producer Maro Market, award-winning photographer Serhii Korovayny who provided his works for the video, and image and sound editor Robert Rudić. The poem was translated from Ukrainian to English by Olena Feshovets.

The project is part of the subtheme Writing After – Catastrophe, Memory, and the Archive of Loss.