Connecting Lines of Resistance through Poetry — between Ukraine and the UK
Date and time:
Thursday 16 April, 2026
06:30 - 08:00
Location:
The Poetry Cafe
22 Betterton St
London
WC2H 9BX
Join us for a moving evening of Ukrainian and British poetry exploring resilience, solidarity and cultural connection.
What does it mean to create connections through poetry during the bloodiest war in Europe since the Second World War?
Join prominent Ukrainian poet, translator and cultural advocate Yuliya Musakovska, in person, and poet, novelist, and officer in the Ukrainian Defence Forces Anatoliy Dnistrovyi (joining online from Kyiv) as they share their voices in both the original language and translation. They will be joined by the acclaimed British poet Fiona Benson for a moving literary connection through culture. The event will be moderated by Hugh Roberts, Professor at the University of Exeter and an avid promoter of contemporary Ukrainian literature through translations produced in collaboration with Fiona and Yuliya among others.
Experience poetry written in wartime Ukraine — an existentially important work that bears witness to the suffering and destruction caused by Russian aggression, while also affirming the strength of the human spirit and the courage of the Ukrainian people.
Come listen, reflect, and stand in solidarity through the power of poetry.
Pay what you can afford. Proceeds will go in support of the Hospitallers Medical Battalion.
Books by the participating poets will be available for purchase at the event.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the British Council, ‘Connections through Culture’, and of the University of Exeter’s Defence, Security and Resilience Network.
Speaker
Anatoliy Dnistrovyi
Anatoliy Dnistrovyi, PhD, is a renowned Ukrainian writer and artist. He worked as a university professor, researcher, and editor, and is now serving as an officer of the Defence Forces of Ukraine. Anatoliy has published over 20 books – poetry, prose, and essays. Most recently, the poetry collection Alarum Days (2023), the novels Grey Peyna(2023) and Ghosts(2024), and the wartime diary The Battle for Life (2024). His novel Dudes (“Пацики”) was listed among the Top 100 Best Ukrainian novels from the early 18th century until the present, according to PEN Ukraine and The Ukrainians. His work has been translated into over 10 languages. Anatoliy is a member of PEN Ukraine.
Speaker
Yuliya Musakovska
Yuliya Musakovska is an award-winning Ukrainian poet and translator. She has published six poetry collections, most recently Stones and Nails (2024). Her book The God of Freedom, in English translation, was named one of the Top 10 Ukraine-related books of 2024 by The Kyiv Independent. Her work has been translated into more than 30 languages and published globally. Yuliya is the winner of the 2025 Asian Prize for Poetry and the 2025 Diana Der Hovanessian Prize for poetry translation. She is a co-founder of the Lines of Resistance project between Ukraine and the UK, focused on Ukrainian wartime poetry. She translated We Were Here, a frontline poetry collection by Ukrainian veteran Artur Dron’, published with Jantar (London) in collaboration with Hugh Roberts and Fiona Benson as editors, and continues to work with them on translating Anatoliy Dnistrovyi's collection, Alarum Days. She is a member of PEN Ukraine.
Speaker
Fiona Benson FRSL
Fiona Benson FRSL is the author of four poetry collections: Bright Travellers, Vertigo & Ghost, Ephemeron and, most recently, Midden Witch. Her books have won the Forward Prize, the Seamus Heaney Prize, the Roehampton Poetry Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. She has edited two books of Ukrainian wartime poetry in translation – We Were Here by Artur Dron’ (2024) and Yaryna Chornohuz’s dasein: defence of presence translated by Amelia Glaser (2025) and is currently co-translating Fedir Rudyi’s The Position with Victor Shepelev. She lives in mid-Devon with her husband and their two daughters.
