Vadym Karpiak

Born on January 27, 1977 in Kolomyia, he is the eldest of the two children in the family. Initially he studied at the school no.1, but with Ukraine gaining its independence, they renovated the local gymnasium which he finished in 1994. That year he joined the Faculty of Humanities at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

In 1998 he earned a bachelor’s degree in the theory of culture, and in 2001 he became a master of political science at the appropriate department of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

He began working in the media already during the studies at the university. At first, from 1997 he was the radio host of live broadcasts on The Capital’s Radio FM music station. And in 1999 he started working as the executive editor for Snidanok z 1+1, resigning in 2001.

In addition to working as the chief editor on television he was developing his own company, FDR Media, which since 1999 has been distributing Ukrainian music in media, mainly on radio stations and TV channels. There on the position of the program director he engaged with a variety of cultural and media projects in central and regional media as a host, editor or co-organizer.

Since 2013 he has been hosting live shows of the newly-founded 112 Ukraine TV channel.

Since 2016 he has been presenting Svoboda Slova (Freedom of Speech) political talk show on ICTV TV channel.

Since 2018 he has been the host and member of the Program Board of the Lviv-based BookForum Festival, as well as the host and moderator of Book Arsenal Festival.

Since 2019 he has hosted his own program On Law and Grace on UA:PBC’s Culture Radio and served as the Ukrainian Book Institute expert in selecting books for libraries.

Since 2020 he has been the jury member of the BBC Book of the Year Award.

Also, he is part of the Supervisory Board of Return Alive charity organization.

Vadym Karpiak is married. His wife, Tetiana Pushnova, also works in media. They are parents to two sons and a daughter. He lives in Bucha, in proximity to Kyiv.