Books at the Institute

Artem Chapeye’s life and work embody the moral and existential challenges facing Ukraine today. Once a committed pacifist, he volunteered to serve in the Ukrainian armed forces after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion — a transformation that has made him one of the most potent symbols of Ukraine’s resistance. As a well-known writer who put down his pen to take up arms, Chapeye’s story speaks to the courage, conflict, and conviction that define Ukraine’s struggle for sovereignty and free will.

For more than fifteen years, Chapeye has been one of Ukraine’s keenest chroniclers, documenting the nation’s social and political complexities through nine books that explore migration, class struggle, and the contradictions of modern life. His travel narratives and fiction, including Dyvni Lyudy (Strange People), written entirely in surzhyk — a hybrid of Ukrainian and Russian — give voice to ordinary and marginalized Ukrainians, revealing the nation’s layered identity beyond stereotypes.

A lifelong anti-imperialist and leftist, Chapeye has participated in major protest movements, co-founded the civic group “Save Old Kyiv,” and translated the works of thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi and Edward Said into Ukrainian. Even in wartime, he continues to speak internationally — challenging Western narratives and calling for global solidarity. Through his words and actions, Chapeye stands as both witness and participant in Ukraine’s ongoing fight to define itself — culturally, morally, and politically — in the face of brutal aggression.

The Ukraine is a collection of 26 stories — fictional and creative nonfiction — written between 2010 and 2018 and translated by Zenia Tompkins in 2024. Blending reportage and imagination, Chapeye captures the essence of Ukraine through vivid portraits of ordinary people — a tax clerk, a former hoodlum, an old woman selling potatoes — revealing both the country’s tenderness and contradictions. The title story critiques the outsider’s use of “the,” exposing