Andrei Kurkov, born in 1961 in Saint Petersburg, remains the most recognizable Ukrainian author abroad. His bestseller Death of a Penguin has been translated into forty languages. His latest work, Diary of an Invasion, published in 2022, documents the initial months of the Ukraine conflict day by day. Kurkov shares that a second volume is in progress. He conducts most of his work via videoconference from Stanford University in California, where he teaches post-Soviet Russian literature on an occasional basis for El Periodico de España of the Prensa Ibérica group. After the course ends, he plans to return to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, which experienced renewed bombardment this week. His children live there.
Question: On February 23, you wrote in An Invasion Diary that war seemed unlikely. It began only a few hours later. Answer: That is correct. The escalation surprised him, as did the full-scale assault across all Ukrainian regions. He had expected more attacks in Donbass, not an invasion of the entire country. Perhaps he allowed himself to be influenced by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who repeatedly stated that there would be no war.
Question: In your book you mention that the day before the invasion began a Lebanese restaurant below your Kiev home had prepared a summer terrace. What happened to that restaurant? Answer: The terrace never opened. People preferred indoor dining, of course, and the terrace was set aside.
Question: Some Ukrainian writers who once used Russian as a primary language have switched to Ukrainian, such as Volodymyr Rafeienko or Iya Kiva. Do you plan to follow suit? Answer: No. The Russian language in Ukraine should not be controlled by Moscow. Russian is one of Ukraine’s languages, alongside Tatar in Crimea and Hungarian in Transcarpathia. It is now seen by many as the language of the enemy, and due to the war its use is likely to decline in Ukrainian culture. Before the war, Kurkov wrote in Ukrainian, including children’s books, and he will continue to write that way. However, he will keep Russian for his prose and fiction because he does not believe that the Russian language belongs to Putin. After the war, a large portion of Russian speakers is expected to remain in the country.
Question: Are your Russian books published in Ukraine? Answer: Not anymore. In Ukraine, Russian-language books are not published, but translations are produced for two reasons: an ideological stance against promoting Russian culture and because Ukrainian bookstores no longer want to stock Russian-language works.
Question: Will you continue to write about the war? Answer: He is now drafting the second part of Diary of an Invasion. He is taking a split approach, with substantial recent work consisting of articles and essays. For example, he is composing a series on the 1919 civil war in Kiev, linking it to the present conflict. The civil war, which spanned four years from 1917 to 1921, saw multiple Bolshevik attempts to seize Kiev, though full control over Ukraine came only in 1921. There is also a novel on the 1919 occupation of Kiev that remains unfinished.
Question: There has been diplomatic pressure from Ukraine and Spain to replace the Russian city names with Ukrainian forms. Should that change be adopted? Answer: Initially, he was hesitant, but now he supports the shift. The use of Kiev reflects the era when Ukraine belonged to the Russian empire. The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian, and changing the transliteration to Kyiv and Kharkiv makes sense because using Russian names implies a Russian imperial origin.
Question: Do you view this language politicization as discrimination against Russian-speaking Ukrainians? Answer: He does not see it that way. Before 2014, about 20 percent of Ukrainians, notably Russian speakers, voted for pro-Russian parties. Since then, many have left to Russia, while those who remain still include many Russian speakers who are now more Ukrainian than before. Young people are increasingly bilingual, with Ukrainian appearing more in popular culture than Russian. This shift was not present before the 2014 invasion, when Russian YouTubers enjoyed greater popularity in Ukraine than their Ukrainian counterparts. After the Bucha and Irpin atrocities, many youths stopped following them.
Question: Will Ukrainian literature experience a postwar surge? Answer: A revival is already underway. Writers and poets feel free to influence language through their craft, inventing new words that may enter dictionaries. They write with passion in Ukrainian, while Russian writers lack the same sentiment. Russian writers generally use language as a tool rather than a living culture.
Question: How should culture relate to the war, especially regarding boycotts of Russian artists or athletes at international events? Answer: Athletes represent a state and a political regime, so their participation is a political matter rather than a sports one. Writers and artists who oppose Putin and defend democracy should not be barred; they should be supported. A nuanced approach is needed for Russian classics as well, considering how Putin has weaponized culture to boost national prestige. Pushkin’s image, for instance, has been used to justify military actions, yet he himself should not be banned. Fans can still buy from Ukrainian bookstores without forgetting how culture can be co-opted for political ends.
Question: Should these issues be reviewed case by case? Answer: Exactly. Vladimir Sorokin, a Russian writer who faced book burnings years ago and now lives in Berlin, defends Ukraine and is not linked to Putin. Such writers should be judged independently of the regime they once opposed.
Question: What role should a writer and journalist play in this conflict? Answer: The author strives to fight on two fronts: the realm of knowledge and the cultural landscape. He acts as a witness, urging writers to create testimonies of the war and to reconstruct its imagery not only for future generations but also for present-day courts. After the Bucha massacre, colleagues documented the events; a Lviv-based writer friend, Victoria Amelina, traveled to Izyum to learn more about the fate of a children’s author, Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was later found executed by Russian forces in early March last year. His story underscores the ongoing human cost of the war.