Since 2014, parts of Ukraine--including Crimea and Donetsk--have lived under Russian occupation, with the 2022 full-scale invasion expanding that violence to cities like Nova Kakhovka. In this urgent and deeply personal conversation, three Ukrainian voices explore what it means to live with, remember, and resist occupation. Chef and author Olia Hercules, born in now-occupied Nova Kakhovka, shares how food becomes a language of memory and identity in Strong Roots, her first memoir. Novelist Volodymyr Rafeyenko, originally from Donetsk, reflects on exile, absurdity, and survival in Length of Days and Signals of Being. Scholar and translator Natalia Shpylova-Saeed introduces a powerful new anthology of Crimean poetry and prose, preserving voices from a region silenced since 2014. Together, they trace how storytelling--across genres--becomes an act of cultural defiance. The conversation will be moderated by professor and writer Sophie Pinkham.
New York City, NY; NYC