The Hashtag publishing house has announced the book by Volodymyr Vakulenko titled "Перші дні окупації. ОÑтанні дні Володимира" (Premiers jours d’occupation. Derniers jours de Volodymyr). It will be the French translation of Vakulenko's diary under the title "Я перетворююÑÑŒ…" ("I am transforming..."). The translation was done by Rostyslav Nemytsov and Felisia Mikhalí.
The diary will be available in Canadian bookstores on March 19, 2024.
Who is Volodymyr Vakulenko?
Volodymyr Vakulenko is a Ukrainian writer and public figure, the chief editor of the translation journal DzeRkaLo, the author of 13 books, mostly for children, and a laureate of several literary awards. His works have been translated into several languages, including Crimean Tatar and Esperanto.
On March 24, 2022, during the occupation of the Izyum district in the Kharkiv region where Vakulenko lived, Russian forces kidnapped the writer and confiscated his books. It wasn't until November that it became known that he had been killed—his body was found among hundreds of other residents of Izyum area in a mass burial.
After the liberation of Kapitolivka, Vakulenko's relatives found his diary buried in the garden the day before the kidnapping. About thirty handwritten letters were digitized and transferred to the Kharkiv Literary Museum. An exhibition featuring texts from the writer's last days opened this spring.
Later, the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office identified the individuals responsible for the murder of Volodymyr Vakulenko. Both were born in Luhansk, and they were informally notified of suspicion for violating the laws and customs of war.
