Posthumous Prix Voltaire Special Award to Victoria Amelina

The Prix Voltaire Prize is presented by the International Publishers Association for authors’ demonstrated excellence in their fight for the freedom of speech.

During the 34^th International Publishers Congress taking place on December 4-6 in Guadalajara, Mexico, Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina was posthumously presented with the Prix Voltaire Special Award. Accepting the award on behalf of Victoria was Oleksandra Matviichuk, CEO of the Center for Civil Liberties.

The awarding ceremony included the record of Victoria’s last year’s speech when it was she who accepted the Prix Voltaire Special Award on behalf of Volodymyr Vakulenko, author murdered by Russians in 2022 near the town of Izium in the Kharkiv region.

In May 2023, while accepting the award, Victoria Amelina said: " I am a Ukrainian writer speaking on behalf of my colleague Volodymyr Vakulenko who, unlike me, didn’t survive another attempt of the Russian Empire to erase Ukrainian identity. The Ukrainian literary community is grateful for the award. This award is unique, meaningful, and moving to us, partly because no one out of hundreds of other Ukrainian writers who, like Vakulenko, were murdered throughout Ukrainian history ever received such an international award posthumously. I am sure that Volodymyr Vakulenko would like to dedicate this award to them too."

The Prix Voltaire Special Award is posthumously presented by the International Publishers Association to emphasize an author’s outstanding fight for the freedom of expression and highlight the way they were compelled to silence.

Accepting the award on behalf of Victoria was Oleksandra Matviichuk, CEO of the Center for Civil Liberties. "After my speech, many people came up to me, saying they knew Victoria personally from book festivals or art events. I am once again amazed at how much she did - traveled and spoke, volunteered, documented war crimes, wrote a book. And of course, I am very sad that Vika cannot receive her award herself. But the bridges she built between Ukraine and the world are still functioning, and this is very palpable at this international congress of authors and publishers," she said in her address.

Victoria Amelina is the author of books such as The Fall Syndrome, or Homo Compatiens, Somebody, or Waterheart, Storie-e-es of Eka the Excavator, Dom’s Dream Kingdom. In June 2022, she joined the Truth Hounds human rights organization to work on documenting Russia’s war crimes on the liberated territories of Ukrainian east, north, and south. Victoria passed away on July1, 2023, due to the injuries she received in a Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk. In 2024, her poetry book Testimonies was published by The Old Lion Publishing House. Victoria Amelina’s book War & Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War is to be published in spring 2025.