September 22, 2025

Women Looking at War


Women Looking at War
Victoria Amelina's Memoria Igor Monchuk, Wikimedia Commons

German literary award Hotlist recently announced its winners for 2025. The top spot by public vote went to Ukrainian author Tamara Duda, for her novel Daughter.

Organizers also reported that Duda won by the highest margin in the competition's history, earning 1,758 of 6,740 votes. Her novel was one among 30 titles shortlisted by the competition’s jury.

Duda was not the only Ukrainian author honored in the competition. Victoria Amelina’s novel Looking at Women Looking at War was also nominated, and came in 11th place.

Both novels follow the experiences of women during wartime, inspired by the lives of the authors affected by Russia's aggression toward Ukraine, including its ongoing full-scale invasion.

Daughter was originally published in 2019 and takes place in 2014. The novel follows the life of a young woman attempting to carve out her future, feeling her life suddenly interrupted after Russia’s initial invasion. The book is based on Duda's life experiences; she volunteered in the Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone from 2014 to 2016.

Amelina’s book Looking at Women Looking at War is nonfiction. The events of the novel begin in 2022, before the full-scale invasion, and continue through it. Like Duda, Amelina writes of how the war affects her life, her family, and especially other women. She highlights the lives of a multitude of women involved in the war effort, including an activist, a soldier, and a librarian.

Amelina’s work was left tragically unfinished. In 2023, Amelina was in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk when it was struck by a Russian missile. She was injured in the blast and died a few days later. Her unfinished writings were assembled by an editorial group of those close to her and published in its fragmented form.

You Might Also Like

A Modern Fairy Tale
  • September 20, 2025

A Modern Fairy Tale

The Ukrainian journalist Anastasiia Marsiz’s first novel, set in modern Italy, reads in the literary tradition of skazki, Eugene Onegin and Tolstoy’s folk tales.
More War, Fewer Books
  • August 25, 2025

More War, Fewer Books

Ukrainian book sales are decreasing, but demand for English-language literature is on the rise.
Ukrainian Artist Honored
  • July 31, 2025

Ukrainian Artist Honored

Serhiy Zhadan is the first Ukrainian to win the Austrian State Prize in European Literature.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals
[INVALID]
[INVALID]

Some of our Books

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955