Alias Writer: author Martyn Yakub joins Ukrainian Armed Forces – photos
Martyn Yakub, a Ukrainian crime writer and volunteer, has joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
He announced his decision on Facebook.
"I have signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. My paperwork has been processed, I’ve completed a military medical exam, and have had nice pictures taken. Next week I’ll travel to a training centre," Yakub wrote.
His post suggests that he will be known as Writer by his brothers-in-arms.
Martyn Yakub is a Ukrainian crime writer, the winner of the 2018 Smoloskyp Literary Prize, a finalist in the 2019 BBC Book of the Year award, and writer and host of the Martyn Yakub Sho° show on YouTube, which promotes literature and Ukrainian writers.
Yakub has published two crime novels, Dead Models (2019) and Not Your Business (2021), and has recently completed a third one.
He has been active in the volunteer movement since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, and has been decorated with the Volunteer of Ukraine, the Cross of Civil Merit, and the Medal for Dignity and Patriotism awards.
In 2023, Yakub created a project commemorating the members of Ukraine’s Executed Renaissance, using AI to generate portraits of 15 of its prominent members.
He also published a Titans of the 1920s calendar, which features AI-generated images of Mykhail Semenko, Valerian Pidmohylnyi, Maik Yohansen, and other artists of the Executed Renaissance generation.
Serhii Zhadan, another famous Ukrainian writer and volunteer, has also recently joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as did Serhii Martyniuk, also known as Kolos, a writer and lead singer of the band Fiolet.
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