The Guardian’s culture editor, Charlotte Higgins, has written a book called Ukrainian Lessons, which explores art, everyday life, and resistance in wartime Ukraine.
The impetus for the book came from Higgins’s first trip to Ukraine in the fall of 2022, a few months after Russia’s full-scale invasion began. The journalist came to cover a literary festival there, and it was this experience that served as the basis for the upcoming publication.
The book’s synopsis notes that Russia’s war against Ukraine is accompanied by attempts to destroy Ukrainian culture – the price of this process is measured in the lives of artists. In contrast, the war gives rise to new artistic voices.
In wartime, it is art and literature that leave space for complex topics – for thinking about what would otherwise be extremely difficult to talk about.
The book will be released in English on August 20, 2026. Ukrainian artist Serhiy Maydukov worked on the cover design.
