Writing in a Time of War: A Conversation with Ukrainian Historian and Novelist Olena Stiazhkina

Discussion with Ukrainian historian and novelist, followed by moderated discussion with Amelia Glaser (UCSD), John Connelly (UC Berkeley) and Taras Tsymbal (UCSB)

Monday, November 20, 2023
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Webinar

The Center for European and Russian Studies (CERS) in co-sponsorship UC San Diego Institute of Arts and Humanities Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, UC Riverside Center for Ideas And Society, UCHRI, Townsend Center for the Humanities invite you to a talk by Olena Stiazhkina. This webinar will be held on Monday, November 20, 2023 at 1:00 PM (PST).

About the Speaker

A historian by training, Olena Stiazhkina is a prolific Ukrainian writer and journalist with numerous scholarly publications and eleven books of fiction. Until the occupation of the city of Donetsk, she taught Slavic history at the Vasyl Stus National University in Donetsk (1993–2015) and then at the Mariupol State University (2015–2016). Her scholarly interests focus on women's history, life in the Soviet Union, and the history of the Donbas. Since 2016, she has served as the senior research fellow at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Her works of fiction comprise collections of short stories, novels, and detective stories (under the pen name Olena Iurska). Having written almost exclusively in Russian before, Stiazhkina has been transitioning to writing in Ukrainian following the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014. Her most recent scholarly book is The Stigma of Occupation: Self-Perception of Soviet Women in the 1940s (in Ukrainian, 2019). Her most recent book of fiction is Cecil the Lion Had to Die (in Ukrainian; English translation forthcoming Ukrainian Research Institute (2023).

Sponsor(s): Center for European and Russian Studies, UC San Diego Institute of Arts and Humanities Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, UC Riverside Center for Ideas And Society, UCHRI, Townsend Center for the Humanities