Military writers will gather at a residence during the Via Carpatia festival in Kyiv.

Warrior-writers will gather for a three-day mini-residency titled "Context: War" and will conduct creative meetings with the youth. The special focus will be on the parallels between contemporary Ukrainian war literature and that of past conflicts.

The event will take place from November 11-13 during the seventh international forum of Central and Eastern Europe, Via Carpatia 2024, which will be held in Kyiv for the first time.

Among the warriors who, despite their primary duties at the front, find time and inspiration for literary creativity are: Olena Mokrenchuk, Serhiy Pantyuk, Volodymyr Skorostetskyi, Vitalii Zapeika, Bohdan Nazarenko, Roman Droniuk, Andrii Humenyuk, Rustam Dmytruk, Olena Lototska, Serhiy Dziuba, Oleksandr Prodan, Myroslav Otkovych, Volodymyr Korotya, Valerii Palchyk, Oleg Borodai, Andrii Karpenko, Leonid Matiukhin, Ruslan Leskiv. They will be united by the program "Context: War," which this year will take place in a mini-residency format with public literary readings and events for children.

Additionally, as is tradition for the Via Carpatia forum, the event will conclude with the awarding ceremony of the Stanisław Vincenz Prize for "Humanitarian Service and Contribution to Regional Development," named after the Polish philosopher and chronicler of Hutsulshchyna.

“This is the most unique authors' community in the contemporary literary environment – combatants and veterans. They hardly have time for reflection, so the opportunity to create shared meanings at the residency in Kyiv is invaluable, not just for the community, but for society as a whole. War adds voices of pain and hope to literature, creating a chronicle of change and new meaning that we cannot afford to lose. The warriors who create literature in the trenches represent a distinct force in these dark times... There is no greater opportunity for the rear to 'feel' the front than to hear its voices. To become their amplifier and retransmitter,” says the curator of the meeting "Context: War," Tetiana Pylypets, director of the Roman Ivanichuk Lviv Library and co-founder of the Forum of Military Writers.

“These artists combine creativity and military service, making their experiences unique. The residency's themes are rooted in experiencing and reflecting on the wartime realities of previous generations of Ukrainian literature and comparing them with contemporary ones. In this way, we aim to reintegrate the experiences of our predecessors into today's mental map and to understand them anew. We see this as a powerful decolonization potential and an opportunity for self-therapy,” says Yaryna Yasynevych, director of the Via Carpatia Forum.

Additionally, the special events of the Forum from November 11-13 will include:

• An international conference focusing on the role of the Carpathians as a cultural shelter and the reflection on the phenomenon of cultural development and civic engagement during brutal wartime.
• A "Ukrainian-Polish Meeting," initiated by the parliamentary group for inter-parliamentary relations with the Republic of Poland.
• The performances of “Dziady.” A work by Adam Mickiewicz staged by the Ivano-Frankivsk Drama Theater and Polish director Maiya Klechevska. The adaptation was created by the team of the Ivano-Frankivsk National Academic Drama Theater named after Ivan Franko under the direction of Shevchenko Prize laureate, theater director, and film actor Rostyslav Derzhypilskyi in co-production with the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków. The performance has been recognized as the main theatrical event of 2023 in Poland. The production has made it to the shortlist in the category "For the Best Performance at the Intersection of Theatrical Genres, Artistic Synthesis, and Performative Forms" at the "HRA"-2024 Festival-Awards. As the creators of “Dziady” emphasize, the performance explains the inhumane essence of Russia throughout the centuries, calling both Ukrainians and Europeans not to relent in their fight for freedom and not to hide from the war.

Since its inception in 2018, Via Carpatia has taken place in the heart of Hutsulshchyna – Verkhovyna and Kryvorivnia, as well as in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk.