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BestBook: Four years have passed since the beginning of the full Russian invasion of Ukraine. You are currently in France, but during all these years you have mostly spent your time in your home in wartime Kyiv… <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since February 24, 2022, I have spent periods in Kyiv, but I have also traveled a great deal. Intellectually, I sometimes understood that my situation could be dangerous, but I never felt real fear, except perhaps in those first moments of the war, when the sound of an explosion above our apartment jolted me out of bed. The last four years have been traumatic for all Ukrainians, but unlike many of my compatriots, I was able to continue working, and for me work means writing and traveling. Since about 2010, I had already been spending almost half of each year on the road. I have always been able to write wherever I happened to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The war changed only what I write about and what I speak about at meetings with readers and broader audiences, although in fact, even earlier, whenever I spoke about any of my novels, I always had to explain the history of Ukraine, the history of the Soviet Union, the Soviet mentality, and the way it affected me and my city, Kyiv. The other difference is that today more people are interested in Ukraine, not only in my novels, but also in what it means to be Ukrainian. At the moment I am in France, invited by the writers\u2019 residency program in Marseille, and here I clearly see and appreciate the breadth of interest in Ukraine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: Your wife is British, and you could long ago have left the country permanently to live somewhere in the West. Why did you never leave? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a Kyivan. I never wanted to live anywhere else. When I married in 1988, I wanted to stay in Kyiv, and my wife Elizabeth agreed to move to the Soviet Union. It was not easy, but three years later, without our having to move anywhere, we found ourselves in an independent Ukraine, and then life truly became complicated: economic and political uncertainty merged with a Wild-West-like criminal environment. At that time we did not yet have children, and perhaps that is precisely what allowed us to get through those social upheavals more easily. But above all stood our love for Kyiv and for Ukraine, as well as the feeling that the richness of Ukrainian culture would sustain us. And that is exactly what happened: not only for us, but also for our three now-adult children, who despite everything still live in Kyiv. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: You have written three books about detective Samson Kolechko. These are crime novels whose plots take place more than 100 years ago. You wrote the first two novels before the war, and during the Russian aggression you completed the third. Was continuing to write that cycle a kind of inner escapism for you? An escape from the horrible wartime reality in which your homeland then was \u2013 and still is? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I had just begun writing the third novel in the Samson cycle when the war began. For weeks it did not even occur to me to continue working on it. I was too busy writing about the war. In the end I thought that I should nevertheless try to continue with the third novel, \u201cThe Lost Soldiers\u201d, but I could not. To write a novel, you need emotional space and calm so that you can lose yourself in another world and explore it undisturbed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the nightmarish horror of the Russian aggression against my country, the everyday trauma surrounding me, did not allow me to enter that space. I hate the idea that a person can get used to anything, and perhaps it is not really a matter of getting used to it, but after almost two years of war, in the winter of 2024, when my Swiss agent reminded me that I should deliver the next Samson book, I went to our little house in a village west of Kyiv, to a relatively quiet place, and forced myself to sit down and begin again to write about Kyiv in 1919. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I do not experience that as an escape from reality. In that period I see many parallels with our present situation. The most obvious is that the Russians were trying then too to take over Ukraine (they succeeded in 1921) and that is what they are trying to do now as well. But there are also many other threads that connect Samson\u2019s experience with the experience of today\u2019s Ukrainians: the forced adaptations a society must undergo when it finds itself in the grip of a cruel authoritarian regime, as well as the psychological mechanisms people use to defend themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: Why did you decide to write crime novels at all? Was that perhaps your answer to the detective novels about Erast Fandorin by the great Russian writer Boris Akunin \u2013 who has been declared an enemy of Putin\u2019s regime \u2013 also set in a similar historical context? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I read Boris Akunin\u2019s novels and followed them with pleasure, but my impulse to create the character of Samson came from another direction. An acquaintance, who had read my earlier books, gave me a very special gift: a large box of original documents from the Kyiv Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka \u2013 files from the period between 1918 and 1926. History has always interested me, and I immediately realized that this box was a real treasure. The handwritten statements of suspects and witnesses were full of detail. I had the feeling as though I were observing the everyday life of the people involved in them, while the cases themselves and the verdicts, often cruel, and also included in those files, vividly reflected the nature of life in Kyiv during that extremely unstable period, from February to the end of July 1919, when Kyiv was for the second time occupied and under the control of the Red Army and Soviet authorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: You mentioned that there are many links in the Samson cycle to the present day…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, as I said, there are many parallels, but perhaps the most interesting is how Russian historians still today portray the events in Kyiv of that period as a civil war. In Russia, a civil war was indeed raging between the Red and White armies. In Ukraine, however, during the same period we witnessed three wars involving as many as seven armies: Nestor Makhno\u2019s anarchist army, the Ukrainian army of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi, the Ukrainian army of Symon Petliura, who defeated Skoropadskyi, then the head of independent Ukraine, the Red Army, Denikin\u2019s White Army, the Polish army, and the German army. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: You wrote your earlier works mostly in Russian. Did you write these books in Ukrainian? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I still write prose in my mother tongue \u2013 and that is Russian \u2013 but I do not expect these works to be published in that language much longer, perhaps ever again, at least not in printed form. I believe I should continue writing literary prose in the language in which I write best, and I leave it to translators to carry my works over into other languages. I wrote my nonfiction books and children\u2019s books in Ukrainian, which I learned as a child in Soviet school. My books in Ukraine are available in Ukrainian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: What is your relationship today to your mother tongue? How are Ukrainian authors who write in Russian viewed today? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Russian is my mother tongue, but I understand that since the eighteenth century, Russia has used that language to weaken the independent spirit of the Ukrainian people, undermine Ukrainian culture, and in fact subject the nation to its power. Keeping that in mind, as well as the fact that Russia still today instrumentalizes language in its barbaric war against a peaceful neighbor, I have no desire to use Russian in public. In the last twenty years I have not had a single public appearance in Russian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Writers in Ukraine who write in Russian have become almost invisible, and the media no longer discusses what they write. State institutions, the media, and most Ukrainian intellectuals today ignore them, and that will probably continue in the future. They have their audience, but it is not large. Literature in Russian will have its place in a narrow, almost underground space. It should also be said that the Russian-language writers and poets I know personally are all pro-Ukrainian and pro-European. Some of the poets try to write in Ukrainian too, or translate their poems into Ukrainian. Still, they are not present on the visible literary scene of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ukrainians whose first language is Russian are free to use it in private life, as well as in shops, caf\u00e9s, and similar places, although some Ukrainians react negatively to that language. According to the law, all employees in service industries, whether in the private or public sector, must begin a conversation in Ukrainian, but they may switch to Russian if the customer requests it. In public life, according to the law, only Ukrainian may be used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: You recently announced that you are writing a new novel set in Ukraine in 2026… <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n To my own surprise, a few months ago I found myself thinking about a novel set in today\u2019s Ukraine. Those thoughts were prompted by a story I heard \u2013 perhaps it is not true at all, but it sounded entirely convincing. During the first summer of the war, a resident of a village near the border of Kharkiv Oblast with Russia was forced to evacuate when the enemy occupied that area. He moved to a nearby town under Ukrainian control, but when autumn came, he could not stop thinking about the potatoes he had planted on his plot in the village. By now they should have been ready to dig up, and if no one harvested them, they would simply rot in the ground. Unable to bear the thought, the man waited for one dark night and, risking his life, returned by back roads to the occupied territory, dug up his potato crop, and took it to his new home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n My novel is not about that story, but in it there is nevertheless a man who must cross back into occupied territory, and the journey he undertakes to make that possible. I honestly believed I would not be able to write about contemporary Ukraine, but perhaps that too is a kind of escape. The present-day Ukraine in my novel is one I can control. Reality is completely different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: Open war in Ukraine has lasted more than four years now. How has the country\u2019s cultural life adapted to these circumstances? How is Ukrainian culture fighting against the war? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I am not sure it would be right to say that Ukrainian culture has adapted to war, but war has certainly brought changes. We have lost almost three hundred writers, poets, translators, and literary figures, dozens of academics and scientists, and more than a thousand representatives of cultural life. Russia has deliberately targeted Ukrainian culture: it has destroyed theaters and monuments, looted or ruined museum collections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet culture has become one of the pillars of Ukrainian resistance. It is hard to get tickets for performances in Kyiv\u2019s theaters. Bars in many cities have begun inviting speakers from different fields of cultural and academic life to give lectures. Writers like Zhadan have organized poetry readings in shelters from the very beginning of the war, and at the front itself many soldiers find comfort in reading poetry or history books that accurately explain the relationship between Russia and Ukraine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n What is more, many soldiers have themselves begun writing poetry and prose, trying to understand the experience they are going through. In short, culture in Ukraine is alive and strong, but most new works are focused on the war, which from my perspective is nevertheless a problem. In recent years, too few books have been written in Ukraine that are not about the war. We lack love novels, crime novels, and other genres. Since arriving in France, I have also seen several excellent films by Ukrainian authors about events on the front line. Despite the horrors those films depict, what stays with you in the end is the talent of their creators and the strength of their intention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: Russian terrorizing of the Ukrainian population is aimed at destroying energy infrastructure in the middle of winter. Can that break the morale of the people? Or, to paraphrase the question, how long can Ukrainians endure such terror? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This winter was extremely difficult. We were not ready for it, but now we expect the same scenario next winter, and every winter, as long as Putin is able to maintain his reign of terror. Ukrainians are, if nothing else, resourceful. We endured this winter, but for the winters to come we will need to be better prepared, and that, among other things, means greater help from our allies. Ukrainians are determined to remain steadfast, but greater support would make that effort easier and leave us stronger for the enormous task of rebuilding the country \u2013 socially, economically, and politically \u2013 after the war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: In our last conversation, three years ago, you told me that you feared the West would lose interest in helping Ukraine. It seems those fears have partially come true. Part of the West is still prepared to support Kyiv, but Donald Trump\u2019s arrival in the White House has introduced a new dynamic in that regard. The political reality is that to achieve peace with Russia, Ukraine would have to give up part of its territory. Should President Volodymyr Zelensky agree to that? What would that mean for Ukraine and for the world? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n As far as Trump is concerned, there is no political reality there whatsoever, as his actions have shown. For him there is only a financial opportunity, which unfortunately he can now pursue with the full strength of the American military. No Ukrainian president can agree to relinquish Ukrainian territory. That would be betrayal, contrary to international law and to all the values that democratic countries have sought to establish and live by since the Second World War. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides, real people, Ukrainian citizens, live in the occupied territories. One group in particular suffering the harshest cruelty under Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory are the Crimean Tatars. After spending more than forty years in exile, they returned to Crimea at the end of the 1980s, and now they are once again forced either to flee or to live under a draconian regime that does not respect their culture, let alone their right to participate in deciding what happens in Crimea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n No reasonable statesman could expect Ukraine to give up anything. That would undermine everything on which our political systems, and indeed our economies, rest: international law and sovereignty. Many European politicians understand this, but are constrained by economic reasons, small armies, insufficient stocks of military equipment, and a kind of political infantilism in their societies. Very few Europeans understand the background of this war or the threat it poses to their own countries and to Europe as a whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most are focused on improving their own material standard of living, without caring about the social values that until recently were the foundation of the stability of their states. They will not vote for politicians who would ask them to make sacrifices in order to help Ukraine, and so politicians do not make such demands either. If Russia can be denied the ability to continue waging war, there is a possibility of reaching a ceasefire along the existing front lines, but without relinquishing territory. That is probably the most we can hope for at the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: Is there any capacity in Russia for resistance against Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime? Do you have any contacts with people in Russia? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have no contacts whatsoever in Russia and, like all other Europeans, I can judge the situation in that country only on the basis of news and social media. And that is painful to read. Russians have always lived under dictatorships. They probably find it hard to imagine any other way of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: How do you see relations between Russians and Ukrainians in 20 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I am 64 years old. I fear I will not live to see an improvement in relations between our two countries. If there is a complete regime change in Moscow and if a new Russia receives support to rebuild itself, while at the same time helping to repair the damage done to Ukraine, then perhaps some communication between our countries may be re-established, which in time could turn into a friendly dialogue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n BestBook: Last time we spoke, you sounded optimistic. Are you still optimistic? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have always been, and remain, a hopeless, almost pathological optimist. My optimism today is based on the resistance and determination of the Ukrainian people, as well as on the fact that the vast Russian military machine, in the last twelve years of war, including the last four years of full-scale aggression, has not managed to destroy Ukraine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The most prominent contemporary Ukrainian writer and public intellectual, Andrey Kurkov, whose works have been translated into more than 40 languages, was born in 1961 in what was then Leningrad, and moved with his family to Kyiv at the age of two, a city that became the center of his life and work. His path […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[263,264,265,266],"class_list":["post-1849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","tag-andrej-kurkov","tag-edicije-bozicevic","tag-ukraine","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bestbook.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BeFunky-collage-14-1024x520.jpg\")
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