Ukrainian Artist Honored

On July 25, Serhiy Zhadan became the first Ukrainian author to receive the Austrian State Prize in European Literature. Zhadan joins a list of past winners that includes highly acclaimed European authors like Zadie Smith, John Banville, and Salman Rushdie. When presenting the award, Austrian Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler described Zhadan as “one of the most incisive writers of contemporary European literature, who has become the literary voice of Ukrainians.”

This award comes in the wake of not only a rich literary career, but a remarkable life. Zhadan began his career at the age of 17, when, in 1991, he began to publish poetry. In the same year, Ukraine declared its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In the three decades since, Zhadan has written numerous novels and collections of poetry drawing on his connection to his home country and his experiences during war. He has previously won the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, and twice been awarded with BBC Ukraine’s Book of the Year.

Zhadan’s life behind his literary career is as remarkable as his novels. He is the frontman to the Kharkiv band Zhadan and the Dogs, and since the Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, he has toured with the group, playing live concerts and raising money for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Zhadan’s involvement in the war did not stop at fundraising. In 2024, the 50-year-old author enlisted at a National Guard brigade in Kharkiv. He told the Kyiv Independent newspaper, “It seems to me that today there are no writers or non-writers, musicians or non-musicians – there are citizens of Ukraine who feel responsible for their country.”

Zhadan has spent a lifetime participating in, observing, and recording Ukraine’s struggle for independence. The Austrian State Prize in European Literature celebrates the entirety of his career, throughout which he has become a voice of the Ukrainian people. His most recent work, “How Fire Descends,” is a collection of poetry published in 2023. The book was described by Yale University Press as “an homage to the Ukrainian people,” the latest of Zhadan’s projects aimed at capturing a Ukrainian perspective on the war and sustaining hope.