2024-07-07 06:13:57
On the occasion of the third anniversary of the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, a book by the Ukrainian writer Viktorija Amelinová will be published posthumously in February 2025. The 37-year-old author was murdered last year by the Russians during a rocket attack on a pizzeria in Kramatorsk. She is survived by a young son.
According to the AP agency, Amelinová conducted interviews with 11 women documenting Russian war crimes in Ukraine before her death. She traveled to the territory liberated from the Russian occupiers to record the testimonies of the survivors, and also spoke with the lawyer Oleksandra Matviychuk, one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. However, she did not have time to complete the project. Now it was completed by her husband Olexandr Amelin together with other editors.
Cover of Looking at Women Looking at War, to be published in 2025. | Photo: St. Martin’s Press
In English, the book under the title Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary will be published by the New York publishing house St. Martin’s Press. The foreword will be written by the famous Canadian author Margaret Atwood.
“This book provides a powerful testimony of women’s courage and determination in war. It tells the story of journalists, writers, human rights activists, lawyers and volunteers who document Russian war crimes in Ukraine at a time when the war is still ongoing,” the publisher said.
“At the same time, it is the personal war diary of the author, who turned from a novelist and mother into a researcher investigating war crimes,” reads the annotation.
Amelinová spent a long time working in IT before devoting herself fully to literature. She has published poetry, two novels and one children’s book. Excerpts from her novel The November Syndrome and the short stories Nameless and Maria’s Premonition were published in Czech. The native of Lviv, who spent part of her life in the USA and Canada, also managed to visit Prague. By the time she fell victim to the Russian missile attack on the Ria Lounge pizzeria in Kramatorsk, Columbia University in the US had already granted her a residency in Paris, where Amelin planned to finish her book.
In 2026, Amelinová’s novel entitled Domovo snečné krástoly will also be translated into English. It will be published by William Collins, adds the website Thebookseller.com.
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Russian woman Alena Machoninová experienced the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 in Moscow. She described her feelings on the Spotlight show. | Video: Team Spotlight