»In the midst of war, there is only the white heat of the moment,« writes Margaret Atwood in the foreword to Victoria Amelina’s posthumously published book »Looking at Women. Looking at the War«. The Ukrainian journalist and author was killed in 2023 in a Russian missile attack. In her memory, PEN Berlin, PEN Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Institute invite you to an evening of solidarity.
War has been raging in Ukraine for three years and the world order is in flux. But what does this mean for writers and journalists – and how do they view this conflict today? Katja Petrowskaja, Yevgeniy Breyger, and Tanya Malyarchuk report on how everyday life and writing have changed. The president of PEN Ukraine, Volodymyr Yermolenko, explains the precarious situation of writers and media in his country and how his organization is fighting for independent journalism. War reporters Vassili Golod and Paul Ronzheimer will discuss the situation on the front line. Because despite all the media possibilities, even in the 21st century: the truth remains the first victim of war.
With Yevgeniy Breyger, Vassili Golod, Yuriy Gurzhy, Volodymyr Yermolenko, Tanya Malyarchuk, Katja Petrowskaja, Paul Ronzheimer, as well as greetings from Deniz Yücel and a video message from Serhiy Zhadan
Moderated by Alev Doğan and Jörg Thadeusz
Read by Maren Eggert
With musical accompaniment by Yuriy Gurzhy
An event organized by PEN Berlin together with PEN Ukraine and the Ukrainian Institute.
With your solidarity ticket, you support the work of PEN Ukraine. In the ticket shop, the solidarity tickets can be found under the menu item ‘Discount’. Your contribution helps provide assistance to persecuted writers, exile fellowships for Ukrainian authors, and the documentation of human rights violations.