Orysia Hrudka

Born on September 30, 1997, in the village of Neslukhiv in the Lviv region. She completed her bachelor's degree in Political Science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a master's degree in Journalism at the Ukrainian Catholic University, and since 2020, has been working on a dissertation in Cultural Studies (NaUKMA). She studied as part of academic mobility programs at the University of Groningen (Netherlands) and the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom).

Since 2017, she has been writing for Ukrainian media outlets on a freelance basis, publishing nearly a hundred book reviews, dozens of articles and reportages, and several video stories.

Communications manager and book reviewer for the journal "Krytyka" (since 2018). Trainer and lecturer at the School of Informal Education for Teens "Agents of Change. Kids" (2018–2020). Editor-in-chief of the student magazine "Syto" (2018). Author of the inter-program series "MediaTranquility" on Radio Culture (2020). Editor for publications by NGOs on governance and education. Student of the School of Philosophical Literature

Translation "Mizvukhamy" in the class of English-to-Ukrainian translation with Oleksiy Panych (2024). Journalist at Euromaidan Press (since 2022).

Author of the book of human stories about the Russo-Ukrainian war, "Dark Days, Determined People. Stories from Ukraine under Siege," co-authored with Bohdan Ben (Ibidem Press, 2024). The manuscript received the

Emerging Writers Grant from the Peterson Literary Fund. The book features 20 stories about Ukraine's fight and life during the war, capturing experiences from the country's north, east, south, and west, collected since 2022. Curator of the book "Catching the Elusive. A Guide to the World of Essay Writing" (Dukh i Litera, 2024).

Curator of the "Essay Days 2024" festival (the festival's focus theme is "The Value of Continuity"). Recipient of "special distinction" in the "Smoloskyp" competition in the "Poetry" category (2020, 2022), finalist in the "Hranoslov" competition in the "Poetry" category (2021), participant in the "Propysy" workshop festival for young authors (2021), and participant in the poetry festival "Land of Poets" (2024).