By Susanna Brail

It is a recurrent reality that when war hits a nation, the soldiers brush their rusted barrels and walk to the front line, the authors dip their pens in ink pots, and often, the war literature emerges as an alternate voice against the cannons fired at you. They speak the untold and the unheard for generations. Lena from Ukraine is one of those writers who used the power of her pen to advocate for rights, promote her culture, and liberate her nation from the ruthless war Putin’s regime waged. We are pleased to have her for Asian Revirew’s exclusive author interview.

Can you tell our readers about how your writing journey? 

I didn’t write until I was forty-three years old. I’ve always been told that I have a mathematical mind. So, I started writing by accident, a couple of years ago, after I attended an intensive documentary theatre course by Andriy May. During this course I wrote my first dramatic text 6,5. I collected documentary evidence and interviews of Ukrainian forced migrants who lost their homes in 2014 during the russian occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In the summer of the same year I was selected for the DRAMLABNEO Week drama laboratory supported by the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. Being in the laboratory brought about my first creative dramatic text Diary of an Excellent Student. This text was autobiographical. It was long-listed at the VIII Drama.UA Play Contest in 2021. And I decided to write further.

You are a Ukrainian living under temporary protection in Poland. How important is your voice to raise awareness about the current situation in Ukraine? And how do you think the creative fraternity in Ukraine should contribute to this?

Because of what our nation is currently experiencing, namely the threat of destruction, the voice of every Ukrainian is important at the moment. Be it the voice of a journalist, a soldier, an artist, a volunteer, or a war witness. Because right now the world needs to hear Ukrainians and understand what’s happening in Ukraine. The voices of Ukrainians are evidence of war crimes by the russians against the civilians of Ukraine. Therefore, every story is important and should be heard.

Writing heals: how true is this for you?

It absolutely works in my case. Writing is therapy. Especially when you write personal texts or texts about events that really concern and interest you. For example, my text Insect helped me relive traumatic events from my childhood and let go of those events.

It works like this – first you write the text and get it from inside yourself, then you see this text from the stage in a reading or in the form of a performance. And this helps to finally separate the traumatic event and look at it from the side of an outside observer.

Your work has been translated into a few languages already; can you tell us a bit about your work? 

Yes, the text One Day has been translated into English, the text Insect has been translated into English and Polish. Both One Day and Insect are social dramas.

One Day is a text about an old woman who has lost everything – her house, friends, personal belongings, practically her usual life. The only thing that keeps her in this life is the hope of seeing her son and the responsibility for her pets. Last eight years she lives on memories of her past, watching television programs and hoping for a better life in the future. But the fact is that the future is February 24. The day when the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine began…

The Insect is an autobiographical text. This is a text about my childhood. It’s scary, cruel, frank and traumatizing. This is a text-confession that was scary and difficult for me to write. But I was able to do it.

Drama has almost disappeared in the modern commercial literary landscape, even though drama used to be one of the most popular literary works in the past: what do you think of this? According to you, what could be the support of the publishing industry to promote drams/plays?

Indeed, there are such stereotypes and attitudes that drama is not literature. But it’s good that it’s in the past. Now the situation in Ukraine is gradually changing thanks to caring playwrights, theater directors and other representatives of the theater community.

There are theaters, both state and non-state, that stage plays based on the texts of modern playwrights. There are prestigious drama competitions, thanks to which modern authors have a chance to be heard and become visible. There is also an online platform https://ukrdramahub.org.ua/ which is essentially a library of modern dramatic texts, where authors can present their own works. Printed collections of texts by modern Ukrainian playwrights are being published more and more recently.

In order to promote modern Ukrainian drama, the publishing industry can distribute printed collections of translations of modern dramatic texts among theaters in different countries. This will allow the international theater community to become familiar with modern Ukrainian drama and will give a chance for further cooperation between Ukrainian dramatists and foreign theaters.

Amid the polarized geopolitical gambles, men, women, and children in Ukraine, just in the same way people in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, and Iraq, die every day, and properties are destroyed as an artist/writer what is your message to the world leaders?

My family and I lost everything about nine years ago due to the russian occupation of part of the independent state of Ukraine. And I don’t understand why, in the 21st century, it becomes possible for representatives of world leaders to remain silent and watch as an aggressor country violates the borders of another independent country, destroys the cities and cultural heritage of Ukraine, kills people and animals, ignores international laws and agreements, threatens the world with nuclear weapons. There is no place for tolerance here, because russia is a terrorist country. Negotiations with terrorists are impossible.

Translations are cross-border messengers; which languages would you want your work to be translated into? And why? 

Yes, it is true, the translations of the texts allow them to be heard all over the world. Therefore, I’d like my texts and texts of other Ukrainian playwrights to be translated into as many languages ​​as it possible. Of course, except russian. Because the russian language should be ignored by international society. Because this is the language of enmity, aggression and international terrorism.

While doing a day job, how do you find time to write? Can you tell us a bit about your writing schedule?

It’s true, I have a family, responsibilities and several jobs. I have almost no days off. Because life in a foreign country without full knowledge of the language and own house requires large financial and physical resources. That’s why I write mostly at night. Sometimes I manage to write after work in the evening, if I don’t feel too tired. In general, I use any opportunity to write. Sometimes I write on the train while traveling, sometimes on rare vacations. Before I start writing the text, I carefully draw out the idea, form sentences in my head, build characters and storylines. And then I write and edit. Sometimes it is very difficult for me, but writing texts is as important to me as breathing and drinking water. So, I’m not going to stop.

Are you currently engaging in a new project? Could you tell our readers about that? 

Yes, I’m currently writing a new text. And I’m collecting documentary evidence and interviews of Ukrainians who, leaving the territories occupied by russia, were captured by russian special agents. In order to have the opportunity to write the text and later performed it, I applied to the Dramaturgy Laboratory of the National Union of Theater Actors of Ukraine, which will be held in July this year. I really want to get there and I’m looking forward to the results of the selection for this drama laboratory.

The Asian Review Is connecting the continent with over 20,000 daily readers across the world. What do you want to share with them as your parting words?

It sounds scary, but the truth is that the international community is already used to the war in Ukraine. All the terrible news about the wounded and killed, about the destroyed cities, about the ecological consequences of the war gradually turned into daily statistics. These are numbers and data that are included in the daily reports of international organizations and broadcast to the world in the form of dry numbers. However, behind each number there is grief, loss, pain, despair, a cry for help, fatigue, death. It should not be forgotten that russia is currently committing genocide against the Ukrainian people. And this genocide, this destruction can be stopped by uniting to solve a common problem. Therefore, I want to call on the world community to support and help Ukrainians by any means – financially, informationally, with weapons, human resources, and support for refugees. And most importantly, do not let the thought of russia’s war against Ukraine turn into a daily routine.