I Am Transforming… A Diary of Occupation. Selected Poetry

The diary of Volodymyr Vakulenko-K. is the painful and true records that the writer kept from the beginning of the full-scale invasion and during the occupation of Izium and his native village of Kapytolivka in Kharkiv Oblast. Until the abduction by the rashists, the inevitability of which he was aware, as well as the fact that he had little chance of survival - because he is Ukrainian, because he is a volunteer and activist, and because he has dignity. The day before the abduction, Volodymyr hid the diary under a cherry tree in his yard, telling his father: "When ours come, give it to them." What is it like to live under occupation? What do people become? What opens before the eyes and in the heart?

The book includes the texts of the occupation diary, selected poetry of Volodymyr Vakulenko-K. for children and adults, as well as stories from friends, colleagues, and eyewitnesses, which will dive into the chronicle of the first months of russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.

Volodymyr Vakulenko-K. is a writer, activist, and volunteer who was abducted in March 2022 during the occupation of the Izium region by Russian troops. On November 28, 2022, the DNA expertise confirmed that the body found in the grave №319 in the Izium woods was that of the Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Vakulenko.

Volodymyr Vakulenko was born in the Kharkiv Oblast on July 1, 1972. He is an author of 13 books, among which there are "Monoliteracy" (2008) "You Are… Not" (2011), "The Sun’s Family" (2011), "We, the Province!" (2013). His pen name is Volodymyr Vakulenko-K. His own genre, which contains elements of postmodernism, modernism, neo-classicism, and logical absurdism, Volodymyr defines as "contrliterature". Vakulenko is a winner of several Ukrainian and international literary prizes. His works have been translated into English, German, Belarussian, Crimean Tatar, and Esperanto languages. Vakulenko was well-known for his strong patriotic stance. Since the autumn 2013, he was an active supporter of the Revolution of Dignity and got injured in February 2014 during the mass protest in the Mariinskyi park. He was actively helping the Ukrainian military in the Kharkiv region since the very beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion and never wanted to leave his homeland.