(Not) About War

On February 24, 2022, Ukrainian Zhenya Berezhnaya woke up to a call from relatives in Kharkiv: the war had begun. The familiar life in beloved Kyiv, where Zhenya wrote fairy tales for adults, taught, and hosted a podcast about literature, came to an end. Sirens and nights spent in basements, evacuation, refuge, the loss of a loved one, attempts to gather herself anew in a new country - all of this is described in Berezhnaya's autobiographical novel "(Not) About War." This book is truly not about war - it is about the experience of overcoming trauma, about how, thanks to creativity and the support of caring people, there is a place for freedom, love, and hope in the terrifying reality.