[A] personal record of the first four months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, recounting the shelling and killing but also resistance in Kharkiv.”—New York Times Book Review“Offers an important window into those first days of war, and highlights the extent to which local volunteer movements stepped in when the state was unable to cope.”—The Telegraph, “Best Ukraine Books of 2023”“A time capsule of the awful early months of the invasion, when Ukrainians had to adjust to the realities of wartime and the world rallied to support their cause.”—Linda Kinstler, Times Literary Supplement“Costigan-Humes and Wheeler endearingly capture Zhadan’s wit and colloquial tone. . . . Language may not overrun mercenaries or shoot down missiles, but it can—when wielded by writers like Zhadan and so many of his compatriots—help defeat prejudice, ignorance, and skepticism, with words as well as arms bringing Ukraine one day closer to victory.”—Cory Oldweiler, Boston Globe“Zhadan’s Sky Above Kharkiv should be valued for preserving an important personal testimony from one of the most pivotal battles during Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine.”—Kate Tsurkan, Kyiv Independent“Instead of high politics, this book is about endurance. . . . Every day since the Russian invasion [Zhadan] has posted informative, descriptive articles and poems on Facebook.”—Allan Massie, The Scotsman“These dispatches . . . bring a visceral sense of what the people of Kharkiv and Ukrainians in general have been enduring. . . . A vivid, in-the-trenches report from a Ukrainian city and its ‘injured, yet unbreakable’ citizens.”—Kirkus Reviews“A wrenching, nearly day-by-day account of the first four months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. . . . Intimate, resolute, . . . inspiring.”—Publishers Weekly“Intimate and courageous . . . . Sky Above Kharkiv redefines witness literature. It embraces social media’s role in documenting the largest ground war in Europe since World War II and capturing the resilient spirit of a nation and its people.”—Nicole Yurcaba, Tupelo Quarterly“Zhadan’s Sky Above Kharkiv captures both his works of aid and resistance and what it felt like living for four months in a city under furious siege. . . . Portrayed unflinchingly, but frequently filtered through a lens of hope.”—Preston Gralla, Arts FuseFinalist for the Witold Pilecki International Book Award, special prize category, sponsored by The Pilecki Institute“This powerful book from Ukraine’s iconic poet-activist is at once a moving testament to the spirit of a nation that will not back down, an indictment of a bloody and unnecessary war, and a call on the rest of us to defend the principles of freedom and democracy wherever they are threatened.”—Anne Applebaum“In this, his ‘diary for everyone,’ poet Serhiy Zhadan turns his Facebook posts into urgent wartime communiques in a language that digs through debris, sweeps up broken glass and records the valor of a city organizing to defend itself. His daily missives call for supplies, offer advice, issue warnings and preserve for posterity a record of ‘the chimerical, tenuous nature of danger and vulnerability.’ It isn’t meant to be poetry but poetry is everywhere within it. This is language with its breath held, language that, as the poet hoped, ‘stands up to silence and death.’ As Zhadan says of Ukrainian poetry, Sky Above Kharkiv ‘stitches up the body of history, holds everything together, doesn’t let us forget a single thing.’”—Carolyn Forché“The indefatigable Serhiy Zhadan is writing against death. His love-letter-in-posts to the people of Kharkiv will live far longer than Putin’s regime—as well as—let us all desperately hope—his example that real toughness does not emerge in coldness and cruelty, but in solidarity and kindness.”—Marci Shore“This is a sobering eyewitness account of the Russian aggression that turned the peaceful skies over Ukraine into clouds of fear and death. But more than that, it is a story of Ukrainian defiance and resistance, recorded in real time in the online posts of one of the country’s leading intellectual and cultural figures, who refused to abandon his city during the most dramatic months of the war. Sky Above Kharkiv conveys the indomitable spirit of the Ukrainians—revealing why they did not surrender, and why they will win.”—Serhii Plokhy, author of The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History
2023-03-03
A Ukrainian poet shares the resilient response by Kharkiv citizens and resistance by the armed forces over the first months of Russian bombardment.
By turns defiant, sentimental, and improbably optimistic, these dispatches, which comprise an installment in the publisher’s Margellos World Republic of Letters series, were posted on social media from the beginning of Russia’s invasion through June. Collectively, they bring a visceral sense of what the people of Kharkiv and Ukrainians in general have been enduring. Poet and musician Zhadan and his band, Zhadan and the Dogs, traveled the city to deliver humanitarian supplies and sometimes organize impromptu concerts in order to maintain morale. His daily reports praise the citizens’ sense of bravery in the face of the sudden Russian military onslaught; he also lauds their lack of panic and the work by the Territorial Defense Forces. As he chronicles his visits to volunteer units, checkpoints, stores, hospitals, schools, and subway stations where people were living, especially children, Zhadan interjects resentment of Russian attempts at subjugation, especially the suppression of the Ukrainian language. He argues that the great “culture of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy” masks a contempt for Ukrainian identity, and he reflects on Ukrainian linguist George Shevelov’s writings during World War II as well as the work of national Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. Zhadan shows how eight years of aggression by Russia have led to a stronger Ukrainian resistance and how the Russian propaganda attempts at “denazification” and demilitarization of the country have only strengthened Ukrainian resolve. “We simply cannot afford to lose,” he writes. “We have to crush our enemy and liberate our territory.” Curiously, the author doesn’t mention President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his nightly addresses to the nation or his international campaign for support.
A vivid, in-the-trenches report from a Ukrainian city and its “injured, yet unbreakable” citizens.
