New book by Ukrainian writer Oleksandr Mykhed set for major release in English ‘A classic in the making’

Ukrainian writer Oleksandr Mykhed’s autobiographical book about the start of the full scale invasion is set to be published next summer in English by one of the world’s largest publishing houses, Penguin Random House. 

The international edition of the book, which was entitled  “Job’s Call Sign. Chronicles of the Invasion” in Ukrainian,  will be called “The Language of War,” according to a post on the author’s Facebook page. Mykhed gave a speech by the same title to open the Lviv Book Forum last year, which has been translated by Pen Ukraine.  

According to a Facebook post by Pen Ukraine, the rights to the book were purchased by the editor Casiana Ionita, the publishing director of Penguin Press. “His workmanship is extraordinary. “I think this is a classic in the making, a war book that everyone will have to read not just next year, but 10, 20, 50 years from now,” she said. 

The book will be released in June 2024

The synopsis via Penguin:

“A thirty-three-year-old writer lives in a quiet European suburb with his wife and his dog. His parents have bought an apartment nearby. On weekends they go out for brunch, cook and see friends. Life is good; it is normal. Then the invaders come.

Language of War is about what happens when your world changes overnight. When you wake up to the sound of helicopters and the smell of gunpowder. When your home is hit by shells or broken into by gunmen, and you spend another night in a basement-turned-bomb shelter. When, even though you’ve never held a weapon before, you realise the only choice is to fight back. It is about things one can never forget, or forgive.

Bringing together Oleksandr Mykhed’s vivid day-by-day chronicles of the invasion of Ukraine with a chorus of other voices – his family, friends in exile, those who have fought and have witnessed unimaginable atrocities – this book is both a record, and a reckoning. Haunting and timeless, it asks how it is possible to find the words to describe a new reality; how you can still make sense of the world when the only language you can speak is the language of war”

Main image: The Old Lion Publishing House