Ukrainian writer killed by Russian troops receives posthumous award from International Publishers Association

Volodymyr Vakulenko, a Ukrainian writer killed by Russian occupation forces in Kharkiv Oblast, has been posthumously awarded with the Prix Voltaire Special Award 2023 from the International Publishers Association.

Source: International Publishers Association (IPA); Viktoriia Amelina, a Ukrainian writer

Details: "Volodymyr Vakulenko is a symbol of the horrific cultural destruction perpetrated by the Russian army in Ukraine. May we hold him in our memory and celebrate the stories and poems he left us before being taken too soon," Kristenn Einarsson, Chair of the IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee, said.

Vakulenko was awarded the IPA Prix Voltaire Special Award. This year’s IPA Prix Voltaire laureate is Iraqi publisher Mazin Lateef Ali.

Viktoriia Amelina, a Ukrainian writer and war crimes researcher, accepted the award on behalf of Vakulenko. She promised to bring Vakulenko’s award to his native village, posting: "I promise to bring this award to Kapytolivka by the end of May. I think it’s important for his relatives to see it, and for this award to remain in Volodia’s [short for Volodymyr – ed.]  room."

"During the award ceremony, I said that Volodia would have wanted to dedicate this award to every writer who had been killed for choosing to be a Ukrainian. I read from Daisy Gibbons’s translation of Volodia’s diary," Amelina said.

Volodymyr Vakulenko is a children’s writer, poet and winner of numerous literary awards. He is the author of 13 books.

In late March 2022, Russian forces occupied the village of Kapytolivka in the Izium District, Kharkiv Oblast, where Vakulenko lived at the time. Russian troops searched his house and arrested him twice. They have not released him following his second arrest.

For a long time he has been considered missing, but a forensic examination in November 2022 confirmed that one of the bodies in a mass grave found after the liberation of Kharkiv Oblast was Volodymyr’s.

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