Last week, thousands of readers gathered [for a literary festival](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/07/kyiv-hosts-literary-festival-amid-ukraine-war-book-arsenal) in... (opens in new tab)

Writers do not only document the horror of conflict; they speak to a future that must exist beyond itLast week, thousands of readers gathered in Kyiv, risking air raids to hear from writers. Four brutal years of war have not destroyed the appetite for writing, but fuelled it. Russia’s extensive and systematic attempts to destroy Ukrainian culture, and therefore identity, have rightly received widespread attention. Over 700 libraries were outright within the first three years of the full-scale...