Writing about women, writing about war: Barbara Demick, Sofi Oksanen, Maria Reva and Maria Tumarkin, SWF 2026
Maria Tumarkin opened this electrifying session on women, war and writing by honouring the late Ukrainian poet, novelist and human rights activist Victoria Amelina and her posthumously published book Looking at Women, Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary (2025). Dedicating the session to her memory, Tumarkin took time to reflect on the significance of Amelina’s work and the tragedy of her untimely death: she died in hospital on 1 July 2023 after being severely injured in a Russian missile strike on the pizzeria where she’d been dining.
Before she died Amelina had been working on a manuscript she’d begun after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Given she’d completed some 60 per cent of it, her husband Alex Amelin and three friends decided to finish it so they could fulfil Amelina’s desire to bring stories about Ukrainian women documenting war crimes to the world, in order ‘to uncover the truth, ensure the survival of memory, and give justice and lasting peace a chance’. Justice and legal accountability were critical for Amelina. As she told a friend in June 2022:
‘I want to write, and I’m thinking whether I can, a book of reportage on those who are documenting the war … I am especially interested in those who document war crimes with the goal of holding the perpetrators accountable.’
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