In early March, Lettres d’Ukraine, a book initiated and compiled by Magdaline Boutros, an international journalist for Le Devoir, Canada’s largest French-language newspaper, was presented in Montreal. The book contains nine letters from Ukrainians written in the spring of 2022. Among them are well-known figures and less public representatives of various spheres, strata, and cities of Ukraine.
According to the author and compiler of the book, the book should tell about Russia’s war against Ukraine through personal stories reflected in the letters. At the journalist’s request, they were provided by the characters:
- A letter to his daughter from Valentyn, who went to the front.
- A letter from Tetyana from Mariupol, who survived the city’s siege.
- A letter from Maryna Khromykh, Executive Director of the DEJURE Foundation, about Roman Ratushnyi and Dmytro Kotsiubailo (Da Vinci).
- Extracts from writer Ivan Baidak’s diary became a revelation for all francophone readers.
- Others.
According to Magdalene Boutreau, she met with full support for her idea to publish the book, and Le Devoir immediately agreed to publish it at their own publishing house, Somme Tout Editions. The foreword to the book was written by Ukrainian human rights activist Oleksandra Romantsova, Executive Director of the Center for Civil Liberties, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, and the afterword by the Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Montreal, Yevhen Choliy. Translation from Ukrainian by Rostyslav Nemtsev and Andrean Bedar.
