Write, just to forget

There are writers in the Ukrainian literature who have shaped up not several generations of young people with their texts. Their characters, experiences and places described by them became a real discovery for those who were getting acquainted with modern Ukrainian literature at the turn of the 21st century, with no exaggeration.

Liubko Deresh became such a discovery in 2000, when he was 16. Liubko wrote his first novel “Cult” that became cult-favorite. Probably, zest was given to this whole story and, hence, Liubko’s immediate popularity by the fact that this talented text was, in fact, written by a teenager.

Teenager? Impossible!

The novel was read with great fascination, elements of horror worked well. The star entitled a “modern Ukrainian writer” started shining immediately. Deresh became the readers’ favorite…

This evening in the theatre in the center of Kyiv Liubko is sitting opposite me. Now he is the author of ten prosaic books, engaged in numerous collective anthologies, supervisor and lecturer, plot and essay writer. All the time since the beginning of the full-scale war he has been staying in Kyiv with his wife, not evacuating. That was his choice.

People start coming to the meeting with him ahead of time. Some are sitting with his books: here is a man attentively reading the novel “Spustoshennia” (“Devastation”). Women are coming with flowers. Older and younger spectators of the soiree are getting seated close to each other. The room is filled rather quickly, that is why at some point of time the visitors start taking places on the floor, to different sides, leaving just an isle for the speakers on the stage.

Liubko speaks about the evolution of his identity, perception of the war, response of his acquaintances, Russians, to the events, about volunteering activity and rescue of his mentor — writer Volodymyr Rafieyenko — from occupation. He reads out two new essays one of which is about volunteering, and the other one — about Trakhtemyriv, the place of power and magic actions. His voice is clear and confident.

The writer who started writing so early and has such a huge experience in this, all of a sudden tells that now he dedicates all his effort to teaching. Each of us, explicated Liubko, must write at least one novel about his or her experience of this war. That should be done in order to pass it all on to the children, to preserve this collective experience. Not 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. To complain to each other that our humanism is getting shallow, depending on the distance at which you are from hell. If you have some perished acquaintances, relatives in the invaded territories.

“Such soirees come as inspiration, — tells one of the visitors to me. — Though such topics are difficult to deal with, but after that you want to keep doing something and to live on”.

Each of us comes out with some sense of relief, breathes in the autumn air of Kyiv at war and is thinking what his or her story is going to be about.

And we all realize that, on writing it, one may finally forget about all this.

Author: Svitlana Stretovych, Ukrainian essayist, program director of Litosvita

Translator: Halyna Pekhnyk

Illustrator: Victoria Boyko

Content Editor: Maryna Korchaka

Program Directors: Julia Ovcharenko and Demyan Om Dyakiv Slavitski