Volodymyr Vakulenko’s book I Am Transforming… A Diary of Occupation. Selected Poetry presented at Book Arsenal Festival

The book includes the diary that writer, volunteer, and activist Volodymyr Vakulenko-K kept during the occupation of the Izium district until his own abduction by Russians, along with his selected adult and children’s poetry

The presentation included the participation of Volodymyr Vakulenko-K’s mother Olena Ihnatenko, writers Victoria Amelina, Kateryna Mikhalitsyna, and Sashko Dermanskyi, Volodymyr’s ex-wife Iryna Novitska, editor with Vivat Publishing House Olena Rybka, and director of the Social Capital program with the International Renaissance Fund Hryhorii Baran. The conversation was moderated by the executive director of PEN Ukraine Tetyana Teren.

"I am very proud of my son, of his talent and creativity. I am so grateful to everyone who appreciates his work. My son was cynically murdered by the Russian occupiers, but I still have a hope that his work will keep existing and spreading," said Olena Ihnatenko, the mother of Volodymyr Vakulenko-K.

Volodymyr Vakulenko-K’s diary contains painful and truthful notes he kept from the beginning of the full-scale invasion until his own abduction by Russians in his native village of Kapytolivka (Izium district of the Kharkiv region) on March 24, 2022. A day before his abduction, Volodymyr buried the diary under a cherry tree in the garden and asked his father to dig it out once Ukrainian forces liberated Kapytolivka. 

After the de-occupation of the village, Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina found the diary together with Volodymyr’s father on September 24, 2022. She passed the original records for keeping in the Kharkiv Literary Museum.

"That very evening, as soon as I got to a village where a mobile connection worked, I photographed every page of the diary and sent the pictures to Tetyana Pylypchuk, director of the Kharkiv Literary Museum, and Tetyana Teren, director of PEN Ukraine. It was then that I felt a little easier: Volodymyr’s message was saved even if the next day, I had to step on some anti-infantry mine. As long as a writer is read, he’s alive," Victoria Amelina wrote in her foreword to the book.

Volodymyr’s diary consists of 36 pages. Its last entry dates back to March 21, 2022. "Everything will be Ukraine! I believe in victory," Volodymyr wrote in an ordinary grid notebook.

A few months after the diary was found, DNA analysis confirmed that Volodymyr Vakulenko had been buried in grave №319 in the Izium woods. The writer was shot twice with a Makarov pistol. Volodymyr was solemnly reburied in Kharkiv on December 6, 2022: it was the day to honor the Armed Forces of Ukraine that Volodymyr believed in so firmly.

"I often emphasize that preserving the memory of our fallen fellow Ukrainians, continuing their work, and developing their ideas must make the main task for our culture in the decades to come. Everyone who knew Volodymyr remembers that he was always full of ideas and willing to unite people around them. Isn’t it a miracle that he managed to unite us around this book even after his death? While working on the publication, we kept asking each other: what would Volodymyr say? What would his decision be? Would he like the cover or the sequence of texts? This work was our greatest responsibility. We believe that the book will help to spread Volodymyr’s story and his creativity worldwide; yet it will make another document of Russian war crimes against our country," states Tetyana Teren.

Apart from the diary, the book includes Volodymyr’s selected adult and children’s poetry, compiled by Kateryna Mikhalitsyna and Olena Rybka. Volodymyr used to sign his writings by adding a "K" to his name: this referred to his beloved village of Kapytolivka near Izium. The book is supplemented with texts by writers Victoria Amelina and Sashko Dermanskyi, journalist Kateryna Lykhohliad, and Volodymyr’s friend and ex-wife Iryna Novitska. Additionally, the book employs a number of pictures of the liberated Izium district made by Leonid Lohvynenko and Vladyslav Krasnoshchok, along with photographs from the archives of the Vakulenko family. The preparation of the diary text was provided by Yaryna Tsymbal and Tetyana Ihoshyna.

"While working with a text which constitutes a part of a still lasting and painful history, it may be difficult to pick the right key to tell the story without retraumatizing… We were in search of the right tone for this book – and at some point, I realized that it was going to resemble Volodymyr himself, versatile, gusty, somewhat severe, and uncompromising. Yet at the same time, it testifies to his great hope and faith in victory. Even the visual code is subject to this: we wanted not just to convey the horrible truth of the occupation and Volodymyr’s tragical death but to give a picture of his life, his ‘eternal child’s loving heart’, and his uncompromising civic stance," said Olena Rybka, editor with Vivat Publishing House.

The publication was initiated by PEN Ukraine, Vivat Publishing House, and the Kharkiv Literary Museum with support from the International Renaissance Fund. Pre-sales of the book will be announced soon.