Selection of new Ukrainian non-fiction books

Today, Ukrainian non-fiction literature shows remarkable diversity, but nearly 10 years ago it was absent from the Ukrainian market. New books on history, culture, and psychology are being published, while reportage and war non-fiction are being developed — all these created by renowned authors with well-established styles. We’ve selected five new Ukrainian non-fiction book titles that deserve special attention.

“All In Three Letters” by Dmytro Krapyvenko

Ukraїner, 2025

When you discuss war, you have two main approaches. The first is to glorify every step of the military and to surround them with a chivalrous aura. The second one is different and is often referred to in Ukraine as “zrada” (a Ukrainian meme derived from the word “zrada” meaning “betrayal”), and presents an image of hardly equipped soldiers, mobilized and sent to war against their own will. The truth is likely in the middle. For his book, Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Krapyvenko chooses black humor and shares intriguing military anecdotes and stories that are almost beyond belief, and one might not have believed them if they hadn’t happened right in front of the author’s eyes.

While describing the first days of the full-scale invasion that were marked with anxiety and difficulties of communication, Krapyvenko recalls how, in a panic, soldiers nearly destroyed their own Pions (artillery systems). And how, at one point, soldiers were issued weapons from the 1940s, and to teach them how to use them, they brought in a historical reenactor.

This book helps bridge the gap between military and civilians, offering readers a way to understand all the military acronyms and to see the war through the eyes of those who saw it up close. “All In Three Letters” is filled with funny stories, which makes it even more sad to realize that many of the protagonists have already been murdered. Krapyvenko’s book is also a way to preserve the memory of those who defended Ukraine.

“Maps of Memory” by Olena Stiazhkina, Evgenia Podobna, Marichka Poplauskaite, Vladyslav Ivchenko, Olha Kari and others

The Ukrainians Publishing, 2025

“Maps of Memory” is a series of essays that explores the connection between places and memory, released by The Ukrainians Publishing, a new project of The Ukrainians Media. The collection shares stories of how the spirits of buildings destroyed by Russian forces in different regions of Ukraine seem to emerge from these places.

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Eight writers share stories about different places, but these essays tell more than just local history. Each one includes the author’s own experiences, highlighting how memories connect over time and make the stories feel personal.

Evgenia Podobna grew up in the building next to famous Ukrainian artist and fashion designer Lyubov Panchenko, but she didn’t know who Panchenko was when she was a little girl. Marichka Paplauskaite writes about her old school in Mykolayiv, which is now damaged and in ruins. Only later she learned that it was built 150 years ago and designed by an architect Yevhen Shtukenberg. Olena Stiazhkina shares a story about a museum in Chasiv Yar about Franz Stertzer, a Czech man who stayed in the town while his father’s other children left, and about her own grandfather, who also chose to stay and not leave the museum.

Russians are destroying places that store our memories, and this makes us realize how much we have already lost. Stories from the past come back to life from the damaged parts of buildings. Just like we used to fill in outline maps in school, showing where the rulers in ancient times used to live, “Maps of Memory” draws a new kind of map — one that shows a new history and geography. It helps us remember places we wish we could visit, even though we will never be able to do so again.

“Stories of Ukrainian artists: Oleksandra Exter” by Anna Lodygina

Projector Publishing, 2025

A recently published book about Oleksandra Exter is both visually appealing and compelling to read. It is neither a reproduction album with captions nor a dry art history study, but presents a vivid and engaging story of the artist’s life and creative journey. The book offers a broad and accessible context of the era and the atmosphere in which Exter lived.

Although Exter did not keep a diary, the book offers insights as to what her moods, impressions, and inner world might have been, all this through the recollections of her contemporaries from the artistic world. Describing the cultural life of Kyiv during Exter’s young years, the author turns to sources from that time to allow a deeper understanding of the environment in which the artist was shaped.

The book follows Exter’s life step by step, recounting her romantic dramas and artistic experiments. The book highlights her European education and determination to foster modernist art in Ukraine. Notably, it also guides readers through sites that are connected with Exter, offering updates on their current names and whether they still exist today. These sorts of details are often missing in books about prominent figures, even though in their everyday Kyiv walking routes readers are eager to recognize where all these events took place.

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This book is a part of the “Stories of Ukrainian Artists” series by Projector Publishing, which will soon also release a book about Ukrainian painter, graphic artist, active public and political figure, member of the OUN, and chief designer of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) Nil Khasevych. The non-trivial choice of figures is a pleasant surprise. If future books in the series maintain the same thoughtful and engaging approach seen in Lodygina’s work on Exter, the series is sure to be a real achievement.

“Free Voices of Crimea” by Olesya Yaremchuk, Anastasiia Levkova, Rustem Khalil, Oleksandra Yefymenko, Eugenia Genova, Eva Raiska, and Iryna Slavinska

Vivat, 2025

Free Voices of Crimea” is a new joint project of PEN Ukraine, The Ukrainians Media, Zmina, and Vivat Publishing House and was created with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy. The book collects the stories of Crimean journalists who became political prisoners. Not all of them were engaged in journalism before the annexation of Crimea, but they consciously took on the risk to continue the struggle and resistance.

The book’s focus on Crimean political prisoners is not accidental, since Russia does not recognize them as citizens of Ukraine, which makes it harder to bring them back to freedom than prisoners of war.

Unlike most books about Crimea, which typically focus on reconstructing the peninsula’s past before the annexation and retelling its history, this work does not depict a Crimea suspended in time. Instead, it presents the region’s present-day reality and the challenges it faces.

Every chapter describes the lives of Crimean journalists before and after their arrests. To create these portraits, the book’s authors spoke with the political prisoners’ loved ones and collected what available information they could about them. In the Ukrainian information space, people living in the occupied territories often remain in the shadows. “Free Voices of Crimea” describes the conditions under which Crimean Tatars work and try to remain free on their own land.

At times, the book encourages us to reconsider how we perceive Crimean Tatars and their needs. In the story of Remzi Bekirov, the author explains that before 2014 there was no souvenir merchandise in Crimea that, for example, offered greetings for Ramadan. Together with his wife, Bekirov created and sold products with Crimean Tatar and Islamic symbols, but after 2014, this became impossible, despite there being no formal ban. This story illustrates not only the oppression in the occupied territories but also the specific nature of life and the needs of Crimean Tatar communities. 

The book brings the names and stories of political prisoners back into the public space, making their work visible.

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“Bukuria” by Bohdan Zhuravel

Vikhola, 2025

“Bukuria” is yet another military-themed book in our review. It was written by military doctor Bohdan Zhuravel who writes about his “hard work and days” on the front line. The author set out to create his own version of an epic — a kind of Argonauts of the war. As the times are, so are the Odysseuses and Argonauts. “Bukuria” is not a pompous heroic saga, but a vivid, emotional, and ironic story telling us about the daily life of a military medic. Zhuravel skillfully balances between humor and heartbreak, the grotesque and the tragic.

The book is composed of short stories that are the episodes from front-line life, starting from the moment of mobilization and ending with the disbandment of the author’s unit. After that, as Zhuravel writes, each soldier sets off on their own trip. The book narrates and contemplates many things: the motivation to go to war, sneaking away for a date, and packing a medical kit for every possible scenario. At times, it feels like it contains a solution for any extreme situation.

These stories show that even the seemingly absurd rules of army life often make sense. At some point Zhuravel describes an incident where a soldier mistook bleach in a bottle for water and drank it. After that, every bottle got a label. This had no fatal consequences, but the lesson was crystal clear. Another case: a soldier gets injured not in combat, but in the rear — from a careless fall next to a rocket launcher that wasn’t even loaded. The book is filled with dark humor, and Zhuravel is very good at telling these serious, often grim stories. But it’s not just jokes — the emotions shift quickly. A funny moment can be followed by something deeply sad. This mix of humor and tragedy is what makes the book so gripping all the way to the end.

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Translation: Iryna Savyuk

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn