The Ukraine Shelf Episode 7: Reporting War with Myroslav Laiuk and Luke Harding

In this episode Olesya Khromeychuk and Uilleam Blacker are joined by Luke Harding, award-winning Guardian correspondent, and Myroslav Laiuk, one of Ukraine’s leading writers, to discuss writing war reportage. Luke has been reporting on global conflicts for many years and wrote one of the first and best accounts of the early days of the Russian invasion of 2022 in his Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival (Faber, 2022). Before 2022, Myroslav was known mainly as a poet and novelist, but since then he has turned to writing non-fiction. His Bakhmut (Ukrainer, 2023) and Spysky (Lists, Ukrainer, 2025). Myroslav and Luke discussed their experiences of reporting from the frontlines, the challenges of finding a language to describe war, the problem of neutrality (and whether it is possible in wartime), and more in this brilliant discussion.

Books discussed:

Luke Harding, Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival (Faber, 2022)

Luke Harding, Betrayal: Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest (Faber, 2026)

Myroslav Laiuk, Bakhmut (Ukrainer, 2023 – published in English)

Myroslav Laiuk, Spysky (Lists, Ukrainer, 2025 – in Ukrainian).

Guests’ recommendations:

Luke: Julian Evans, Undefeatable: Odesa in Love and War (Scotland Street Press, 2024).

Myroslav: The Pateryk of the Kyivan Caves Monastery (early 13th century). Available online in a 1989 translation by Muriel Heppell and published by Harvard University Press here.

How do we make sense of war, shifting borders, and forced displacement? How can we remember and speak about these things, and how can literature act as a witness, perhaps even bring a sense of justice? And what lessons can we draw from the tumultuous history of Ukraine and Europe to help us understand what is happening today? This special edition of the Ukraine Shelf podcast featuring poet Oksana Maksymchuk and international lawyer and author Philippe Sands was recorded live at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The episode is hosted by the podcast's creators Olesya Khromeychuk (author The Death of a Soldier Told By His Sister and director of the Ukraine Institute London) and literary translator and Ukraine scholar, Uilleam Blacker. Books discussed: Oksana Maksymchuk, Still City (Carcanet, 2025) Philippe Sands, East West Street (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2016) and 38 Londres Street (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2025) Guest recommendations: Natalia Vorozhbyt, Bad Roads, translated by Sasha Dugdale (Nick Hern Books, 2017) Józef Wittlin and Philippe Sands, City of Lions: A Portrait of a City in Two Acts: Lviv Then and Now (Pushkin Press, 2023) (Wittlin’s is essay translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones).

In this episode, we talk about one of the most fundamental things in all our lives: food. How can food help us understand culture, identity, and history? How does food bring people together in dark times? How has Ukraine’s status as a major global exporter of food been affected by the war? We discuss all these questions and more with two brilliant food writers - Olia Hercules and Felicity Spector.

Olia Hercules is a British-Ukrainian chef, author and cultural ambassador, she is the author of Mamushka: Recipes From Ukraine & Beyond; Kaukasis: The Cookbook – A Journey Through the Wild East; Summer Kitchens Inside Ukraine's Hidden Places of Cooking and Sanctuary; Home Food and most recently Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family Story of War, Exile and Hope (Bloomsbury, 2025).

Felicity Spector is a journalist, author and baker. Her work in TV journalism has taken her all over the world, covering everything from the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia to the inauguration of Barack Obama in the US; most recently, she has been a tireless volunteer in some of Ukraine’s most war-torn regions. Her book about these experiences, Bread and War: A Ukrainian Story of Food, Bravery and Hope, was published in 2025 by Duckworth.

Book recommendations:

Olia Hercules:

Lesya Ukrainka, The Noblewoman, translation. Percival Cundy, in Spirit of Flame: A Collection of the Works of Lesya Ukrainka (Bookman Associates, 1950). Translation available online here.

Charlotte Shevchenko-Knight, Food for the Dead (Penguin, 2024)

Lina Kostenko’s poetry (See here for some translations by Uilleam Blacker at Words Without Borders)

Felicity Spector:

Oleksandr Mykhed, The Language of War translation. Maryna Gibson, Hanna Leliv and Abby Devar (Penguin, 2024)

Artur Dron, We Were Here, transl. Yuliya Musakovska (Jantar, 2024)

Victoria Belim, The Rooster House (Virago, 2023)

Also mentioned:

Lesya Ukrainka, Cassandra trans. Nina Murray (Harvard, 2024)

Oleksandr Mykhed, I Will Mix Your Blood with Coal transl. Tanya Savchynska and David Mossop (Northwestern University Press, 2025)