Volodymyr Rafeyenko, a Russian-speaking, award-winning novelist, was living in his hometown Donetsk when Russia invaded Donbas in 2014. He fled to Kyiv, learned Ukrainian and wrote Mondegreen: Songs About Death and Love in his new language. Mark Andryczyk, who runs our Ukrainian studies program, translated the novel and was planning to bring Rafeyenko on book tour to the U.S. when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Learn about what transpired in the latest episode of Voices of Ukraine.

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This episode was written and produced by Masha Udensiva-Brenner. Music by Ivan Nebesnyy. Art by Victoria Tentler-Krylov. Thanks to Nathan Schiller for feedback on the episode.

About Voices of Ukraine

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, we’ve been hearing a lot of firsthand accounts of lives upended by the war. This podcast features the voices of Harriman community members who are in Ukraine or deeply connected to it. Listen to the trailer, edited by Daniel Alarcón.