10 winning projects of the Present Tense grant program announced by PEN Ukraine

The winners have been selected by the jury among 323 applications received

The initiative was launched by RIBBON International and PEN Ukraine. 100,000 USD has been allocated by RIBBON International for its implementation in 2026. 10 Ukrainian writers to receive individual support to finish the work on their new books amounting to 5,000 USD each in UAH equivalent have been determined by the open competition.

"We received over 300 applications while only 10 projects could win. I, for example, had a long list of 150 names and a short list of 50 names. This was extremely difficult a choice – there were too many splendid texts! But this also proves that many important processes are now going on in Ukrainian literature. Our list includes texts written by military servicepeople; texts that shed light on Russian war crimes; poignant poetry; commemorative literature, and studies on philosophy. We are going to look for more opportunities to launch other programs like this so that more authors could have their ideas supported," said Volodymyr Yermolenko, the jury member and President of PEN Ukraine.

Focused on sustaining literary production during wartime, the program supports works in progress in fiction and nonfiction that engage with the lived experience of war, cultural memory, and Ukrainian identity. 

The finalists of the program are:

1. Horodetska, Hanna (Westwards from the Town ("На захід від міста") – a novel that depicts the sense of loneliness of people who had to move abroad to flee the war)
2. Kruk, Halyna (Imagine that the War Stops at Once ("Уяви, війна зупиняється на раз-два…") – a poetry book that reflects our wartime emotions and experiences)
3. Logvynenko, Bogdan (Either We or They Are Defeated ("Або ми, або нас") – a collection of epistolary essays in which the author reveals the history of his family intertwined with the history of Ukraine to his daughter)
4. Lyuty, Taras (Ukrainian Nietzscheanism ("Українське ніцшеанство") – a book that studies Friedrich Nietzsche’s influence on Ukrainian culture and society)
5. Paievska, Yuliia ("Tayra") (Freedom ("Воля") – a novel about the author’s personal experience of being a combat medic during the defense of Mariupol and the following stay in Russian captivity)
6. Sanina, Tea (Following the Paths of Fragility ("Шляхами крихості") – a novel that tells the story of two women who survived different wars – the WWII and the contemporary Russian Ukrainian war)
7. Stepanenko (Prylutska), Olena (a poetry book about the experience of a woman, a wife and a mother who lives in wartime)
8. Stekh, Pavlo (A Small Step for the Humankind ("Маленький крок для людства") – a story of a journalist who enlisted in the army)
9. Torzhevska, Nataliia (3:40, a short prose collection based on the real stories of people who find moral support after having survived occupation or threat to their lives)
10. Filonenko, Mykhailo (Requiem for Eros ("Реквієм по Еросу") – a novel about a man who looks for a way to hold on and live after a difficult phase of his life)

Each of the books supported by the program must be published no later than 25 December 2026.

"I was mostly impressed by the high-quality level of the texts submitted for the Present Tense program. This, by the way, goes for all genres of both fiction and non-fiction. On the one hand, I shouldn’t have been that surprised because we talk a lot about the last years’ cultural explosion in wartime, but on the other hand, I was still stunned to read more than 300 top-notch pieces of literature. Choosing only 10 finalists among all those brilliant authors was our biggest challenge and most difficult task to complete. I sincerely congratulate the winners. I am happy that our literature is formed by hundreds of such powerful voices," said Myroslava Barchuk, the jury member, journalist and TV presenter.

Another jury member, writer and military servicewoman Kateryna Zarembo, added that any grant program has certain rules and limits of the number of projects to support. The selection results, therefore, do not prove the lack of talent for those who have not been included on the winning list. It’s still important to submit their texts to publishing houses and search for their audience.

The submissions were evaluated by the Jury:

Volodymyr Yermolenko, philosopher, writer, journalist, president of PEN Ukraine

Myroslava Barchuk, journalist, TV presenter

Anatoly Dnistrovy, essayist, writer, poet, military serviceman

Anastasiia Gerasymova, literary critic, communications specialist

Kateryna Zarembo, writer, social scientist, military servicewoman

While determining the winners of the project, the Jury assessed the criteria such as the author’s unique style, social and cultural significance of the author’s idea, and the author’s capability of carrying out the necessary research and processing of materials for a book.