Sofia und Juri Andruchowytsch

What does it mean and how is it possible to write literature in times of war? Does writing in war inevitably mean writing about war, writing against war – or perhaps above all: writing with war? Escapism, reflection, warning, therapy? How does one find a language, how does literary language change? What expectations do writers face? And what do they have to say? Juri Andruchowytsch and his daughter Sofia Andruchowytsch are among the most influential and prominent voices of contemporary Ukrainian literature in Europe. Juri Andruchowytsch’s novel Radio Night (2022) and Sofia Andruchowytsch’s three-part epic Amadoka (2023/2024) have recently been published in German translation. Juri was a guest at asphalt last year and gave a nationally acclaimed talk on his award-winning novel ‘Moscoviada’ and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We are delighted that he is returning this year with his daughter Sofia to engage in a dialogue about writing in times of war and to read from their latest works, written since 2022 and not yet published in Germany. The discussion will be moderated by Gun-Britt Kohler, Professor of Slavic Studies.

The Ukrainian writer, poet and essayist Juri Andruchowytsch is one of the most famous European authors of our time, and his work has been published in 20 languages. Juri Andruchowytsch has received numerous national and international awards, including the Antonovich Prize, the Special Award of the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize, the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding and the Hannah Arendt Prize. In 2016 he was awarded the Goethe Medal by the Goethe Institute, and in 2022 the Heinrich Heine Prize by the city of Düsseldorf.

Sofia Andruchowytsch has written several collections of short stories, novels, a novella and a children’s book, as well as essays. She has also won numerous awards, most recently the 2024 International Hermann Hesse Prize for her epic novel Amadoka, which spans more than 1,000 pages and skilfully interweaves the war in eastern Ukraine with repression under Stalin, as well as Jewish-Ukrainian relations and the Holocaust under German occupation. Her latest novel, Catananche (2024), deals with the emotional alienation of people due to their experiences during the war in Ukraine and how an unexpected passion can show the way through the chaos.

Gun-Britt Kohler studied Slavic and Roman languages and literature and has been a professor of Slavic literature at the University of Oldenburg since 2008. She works on various Slavic literatures and is particularly interested in literary systems and the relationship between literature and society.

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What the press say:

‘Juri Andruchowytsch is a passionate advocate of the European idea and champions Ukraine’s identity as a cultural nation. He reminds Europe that freedom and human rights are being defended on the front lines in Ukraine.’
Jury statement on the awarding of the 2022 Heine Prize

‘One of the most important novel projects in contemporary European literature’
Die Presse on Sofia Andruchowytsch’s “Amadoka”

‘Legends of the disappeared: Sofia Andruchowytsch manages to measure a Ukrainian century of tears in an unsentimental way.’
FAZ on “Amadoka”