Artur Dron became the Laureate of the Yuri Shevelyov Prize

Artur Dron was awarded the 2025 Yuri Shevelyov Prize. His book Hemingway Knows Nothing (The Old Lion Publishing House) was recognized the best Ukrainian essay book. This year’s special awards from the Jury were given to Myroslava Pinkovska and Vira Ageyeva, while Artem Cheh received the special award from Radio Culture.

The names of the prizewinners became known during the solemn ceremony that took place in Kyiv on 17 December – the birthday of Yuri Shevelyov, linguistic scholar, historian of the Ukrainian literature and essayist.

This year’s short list for the Yuri Shevelyov Prize also included the books of Vira Ageyeva (Countering Cultural Amnesia. Essays on National Memory and Identity (Vikhola Publishing House)) and Dmytro Krapyvenko (Everything in Three Letters (Ukraїner Publishing House))

"As a human being, I value the most that my book was recognized. But as a community, we do value the most the fact of what we are doing here. Even now, in our hardest times, we managed to develop our literature, art, and culture that make us humans, however trivial this might sound," said Artur Dron in his speech.

Artur Dron is a writer, poet, and military veteran. His poetry and prose have been translated into many languages – from Polish and Lithuanian to Italian, French and English. He was awarded the Anatoly Krylovets Prize for his debut poetry collection Dormitory №6 (2020). Artur Dron is also the Laureate of the Youth Prize Smilyvi from Lviv City Council (2022) and he was awarded the Certificate of Appreciation from the Smoloskyp Literary Contest (2022).

The prizewinner received the statuette of the Bronze Angel made by Ukrainian sculptor Svitlana Karunska, the monetary prize and the diploma of the laureate.

"For me, an essay is a medium to unite artistic impressions. Not only by the means of author’s work – it must make a realistic impression. It must be a description – just like a travel one – united with intellectual conversations. This is an essay, and this is what Artur Dron possesses," said Ukrainian philosopher and translator, the Jury member Oleksii Panych.

The award was presented to the Laureate by Volodymyr Yermolenko, president of PEN Ukraine.

"I think there were two ways you felt, in which the books were longlisted and shortlisted for the Prize. One is about the military servicepeople’s voice and literature. Another is about raising these layers of memory. And I am happy that we have such a perfect match."

This year, two Special Awards from the Jury were presented within the prize. Myroslava Pinkovska was recognized for "an outstanding contribution in preserving cultural memory", while Vira Ageyeva was awarded for "the essays in the field of literary studies, that rediscover the forgotten layers of Ukrainian culture".

Myroslava Pinkovska’s book A Portrait in the Interior of the Fate (Dukh-i-Litera Publishing House) was also longlisted for the 2025 Yuri Shevelyov Prize.

The ceremony also included the presentation of the sixth Special Award from Radion Culture. The name of the winner was announced by Yuliia Zahoruiko, creative producer of Radio Culture. The Special Award went to Artem Cheh for his book A Game in Disguise which was also longlisted for the prize.

The awarding ceremony took place at PEN Ukraine Space in Kyiv. The event was hosted by Yana Brenzey, Radio Culture presenter, co-author and co-host of the YouTube project Palaye.

During the ceremony, the organizers announced a fundraiser for vehicles to meet the needs of the Special Forces Center Omega. Since 2023, its separate squad has performed combat missions in the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia. We kindly invite you to join the fundraiser:

Link to the jar

https://send.monobank.ua/jar/35WPNBHHry

Card number of the jar

4874 1000 2909 9366

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We shall remind you that in 2025, 13 books were longlisted for the Prize.

The Jury of the 2025 Prize included Volodymyr Yermolenko, president of PEN Ukraine (head of the Jury); Ola Hnatiuk, researcher, professor of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and Warsaw University; Oleksii Panych, philosopher, translator and senior researcher of the Dukh-i-Litera Publishing House; Roman Veretelnyk, literary scholar, critic, translator; Oleh Kotsiuba, literary scholar, Director of Print and Digital Publications at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University; Tamara Hundorova, literary scholar, correspondent member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (the Institute of Literature); Rostyslav Semkiv, writer, literary scholar, critic, translator, associate professor of Kyiv Mohyla Academy; Oksana Khmelyovska, journalist, co-founder and editor of Chytomo media; Andrii Pavlyshyn, journalist, historian, translator, laureate of the 2022 Prize; Myroslav Laiuk, writer, professor, TV presenter, laureate of the 2024 Prize; Vasyl Makhno, poet, writer, translator, laureate of the 2024 Jury’s Special Award.

The Yuri Shevelyov Prize was founded in 2013. It is awarded annually to a Ukrainian author of popular and academic essays. The Prize is bearing the name of Yuri Shevelyov, founder of the modern Ukrainian genre of essay. It notes the contribution to the inherent values of this genre: independence of thought and sophistication of style. Original popular or academic essays by Ukrainian authors written in Ukrainian and published in paper form (book, collection) during the calendar year are accepted for consideration.

The Prize laureates of the previous years were Taras Prokhasko (2013, One and the Same) and Andriy Portnov (2013, Stories for Domestic Use); Kostiantyn Moskalets (2014, Alarms); Oleksandr Boychenko (2015, More/Less); Vakhtang Kebuladze (2016, Cells of Fate); Andrii Liubka (2017, Saudade); Volodymyr Yermolenko (2018, Volatile Ideologies); Diana Klochko (2019, 65 Ukrainian Masterpieces. Recognized And Implicit); Taras Lyuty (2020, Culture of Charms And Resistance); Andrii Bondar (2021, Treats for Medor), Andrii Pavlyshynv (2022, Eternity Still Jeopardizes Us); Oleksandr Mykhed (2023, Language of War); Myroslav Laiuk (2024, Bakhmut).

The Jury’s Special Award in the previous years went to Volodymyr Panchenko (posthumously), Oksana Zabuzhko (The Wormwood Planet), Mykola Riabchuk (The Lexicon of a Nationalist And Other Essays), Stanislav Aseyev (Torture Camp on Paradise Street), Pavlo Kazarin (The Wild West of Eastern Europe), Andrii Hudyma (69 Spices for the Heart, posthumously), Andrii Sodomora (Under a Stranger’s Shadow), and Vasyl Makhno.

The Special Award from Radio Culture in the previous years went to Vasyl Makhno (Along the Ocean on a Bicycle), Vira Ageyeva (Behind the Empire’s Curtains), Markiyan Prokhasko (A Dream of Antarctica), Andrii Humeniuk (Africa), Stanislav Aseyev (The Melchior Elephant, or A Man Who Thought).

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Founders of the Prize: PEN Ukraine, Kyiv Mohyla Business School, Dukh-i-Litera Publishing House, Center of Jewish Studies, and Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute

Information partners of the Prize: Radio Culture, Suspilne Culture, 5 Channel, Chytomo.

General information partner of the 2025 Yuri Shevelyov Prize: Espreso TV Channel.