Poet and serviceman Maksym Kryvtsov was killed at the frontline

On January 7, the death of Ukrainian poet and serviceman Maksym Kryvtsov was informed of by his mother and fellow writers.

Maksym Kryvtsov was born on January 22, 1990, in the city of Rivne. He participated in the Revolution of Dignity. In 2014, he voluntarily enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Later, he worked at a center for rehabilitation and re-adaptation of the ATO and JFO veterans, and at the Veteran Hub. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he returned to the frontline under the call sign "Dali". His book, Poems from the Battlement, was published by the end of the year at the Nash Format Publishing House and got on the list of the best Ukrainian books 2023 according to PEN Ukraine.

Maksym’s poetry was published in anthologies such as BookLove 2.0. Love and War, Where Home Is: 112 Poems About Love and War, and Amidst Sirens. New Poetry from the War. In 2020, a song of the Yurcash band (Yellow Scotch Tape) with the lyrics by Maksym Kryvtsov became the soundtrack to the movie Our Kittens (dir. Volodymyr Tykhyi). Maksym also worked as an instructor at the children’s camp Mottled Racoons.

"What a talented man Maksym was," author and filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk wrote on her Facebook page. "I was always so happy to unequivocally recommend him as a poet. About a week ago, I got his newly published book from him – the book he was so proud of. Throughout the preparation of the manuscript, he asked my opinion about the selection of poems and the structure of the future book, and whatever minor issues. I wrote a blurb for him with great pleasure because I truly love his poetry."

"I have never met Maksym personally. I read his poem once at the Book Arsenal: that was the presentation of the anthology Amidst Sirens. Olena Huseinova and I took his poetry to the conference in Exeter and helped with its translation. Just a few days ago, I wrote to Maksym that his book Poems from the Battlement was listed among the best books of the year 2023 according to PEN Ukraine. He was so happy to hear that. And now he’s gone," poet Yuliya Musakovska wrote.

"Today, poet Maksym Kryvtsov passed away. I was lucky to have met him and been his mentor at the veteran program Voices of the War. He was a very lively, ingenious, and extremely talented human being. Here is a brief extract from the novel he’d written at the course – the novel Maksym is no longer going to complete:
When coming home from rotations, we never feel happy. Still, we probably want to be back. I think so. Instead, we feel nothing but emptiness. A big common void, collective as could be memory. We choke from it; we inhale its vapors. Well, I would like to tell you about a high-story building, at the 77^th store of which the TV channel Oblivion is located. My whole story will occur within the world’s most terrible talk show called War… May oblivion never touch you. Memory eternal to the hero", author Lyubko Deresh wrote.

Maksym Kryvtsov was among the protagonists of the project Words and Bullets, developed jointly by Chytomo and PEN Ukraine.

Card numbers to support the family of Maksym Kryvtsov:

5168 7450 1677 2532 (Kryvtsov Oleksandr, father)
4149 4991 2736 2513 (Kryvtsova Nadiia, mother)