'After the reading, the #poets hold each other’: what happens when #Ukraine’s largest #literaryfestival comes under #Russianattack
#FionaBenson was invited to #Lviv’s #BookForum by Ukrainian #poet-soldier #ArturDron’. She recounts falling in love with the city and its thriving literary culture, before an #airraidsiren sounds

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/oct/13/ukraine-literary-festival-bookforum-russian-attack-artur-dron?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

‘After the reading, the poets hold each other’: what happens when Ukraine’s largest literary festival comes under Russian attack

Fiona Benson was invited to Lviv’s BookForum by Ukrainian poet-soldier Artur Dron’. She recounts falling in love with the city and its thriving literary culture, before an air raid siren sounds

The Guardian

I walked up and up. Thought the same cracked thoughts
about the same cracked stuff:ego, work -
why hadn’t I been published in this, invited to that,
yak, yak, yak, meanwhile shrapnel, exile,
the bombed, the drowned…

from Village by #FionaBenson in Vertigo&Ghost, a masterpiece! #poetry