Julia Ovcharenko, Author at Cultural Hub

At a High Cost

The morning begins with a final farewell to a soldier in our yard. He died in the war. A message about this appeared in the neighbor chat yesterday, indicating the building number and the entrance. High-rise buildings, just like low-rise ones, can’t avoid loss in wartime. There are more than 800 apartments in our building. Is there at least one unaffected by the war?

Alive. Love You

He was so eager to join the army. Finally, he got conscripted. We couldn’t get in touch with him for several days, I already began bracing ourselves to say goodbye to him. And then in the evening Valerik sent me a message: ‘Alive. Love you’.

Stencil of the 20th Century

If someone had told me that I would live through such a situation, I would not have believed: during the war in the city, sirens keep going off, there is no electricity and no heat supply, but, despite everything, people dress up, get on the subway, take cars or trolleybuses and go to the theater for a literary night.

Write, just to forget

People come to meetings with writers in the wartime for many reasons. The first of them is an opportunity to speak on the topics that cannot be hushed up. To hear how one should fight the enemy, but remain a human, with love in one’s heart.

Kherson is Ukraine

They were killing people of culture for their unwillingness to cooperate. Thus, one of the numerous crimes still remains shocking: the chief conductor of Kherson Music and Drama Theatre Yuriy Kerpatenko was killed by Russian military men in his own house after he refused to cooperate with the invaders. Con-duc-tor!

Habit 2022: Surviving

Residents of Ukrainian cities, who, for almost a year now, have been living in the conditions of great war, constant shelling and daily disasters, do not wake up to an alarm clock. They are awakened by an app that loudly imitates a siren and warns: “Air raid alarm! Immediately follow to the nearest shelter!”

The Festival of Stolen Culture

Why would a Russian ensemble choose a Belarusian or Ukrainian name if they were representing an authentic Russian culture? Why do they think that a Dagestani dance can represent their culture? Why is cultural appropriation a core of Russian culture at all?

Don’t get me wrong

For people to trust you — you have to speak the same language with them. For people to trust you — you have to tell about your emotions, but not to be an “overly emotional interlocutor”, you have to meet the expectations of being a victim.

The Echo of the War at the End of the World

Half of my life ago, in 2004 to be more precise, I stayed for one year in the USA as an exchange student. It was quite an experience for a 16-year-old Ukrainian girl who grew up on American movies and TV series on the high school teen life. So I actually felt like being in one of those shows.

The Lakshmi Puja Question

“So, everything is destroyed there, in Ukraine? Is there anything functioning?” — he asked. Normally, I would respond differently, but, bearing in mind the visual representation of the war on Indian TV, I took a slower and a more determined approach.

Author: Julia Ovcharenko