Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Rafeenko visited the "Nova Khvylka" Ukrainian Studies School on October 22.

It was an unforgettable meeting - a story about life under occupation. The writer's creative and life path is an open book, full of the pain of losing his native village. In one of his last essays, "Likhtarik", Volodymyr Rafeenko describes the occupation by Muscovites of the summer cottage village in which he was in the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Listening to the essays read by the author, those present seemed to have experienced those terrible moments of escape from the occupied village themselves. The writer answered numerous questions from high school students and teachers.

The writer's brief meetings with younger schoolchildren in their classrooms also left unforgettable memories.

Volodymyr Rafeenko's books in English translation Mondegreen: Songs about Death and Love (Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature) can be purchased on Amazon.

Check this out on Amazon ; translation was done at the Ukrainian Institute at Harvard University Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (April 19, 2022)

Or in the original Ukrainian book "Mondegreen. Songs about Death and Love" - Volodymyr Rafeenko, buy for 199 on YAKABOO: 978-966-97821-2-0

Myroslava Rozdolska