Dec. 25, 2025, 1:45 p.m.

PEN Ukraine has compiled a selection of the best books in Ukraine in 2025

(PHOTO: PEN)

PEN Ukraine members have compiled a selection of books that impressed them during the year. This year's list includes 252 books.

As noted by the Ukrainian Publishing Association, the list is traditionally composed of prose and poetry novels, translations, drama, nonfiction, works for children, art publications, and humanities. The selection includes only books published in Ukraine during 2025.

The books include, for example, Evening in Istanbul by Andriy Lyubka and Who We Were by Valeriy Puzik. The books are included in the Ukrainian Prose section, which includes a total of 35 works by various authors.

The selection also includes not only contemporary and Ukrainian writers, but also foreign and non-contemporary ones, such as Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky and his book Over the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian Center of PEN International (PEN<i> </i>Ukraine, an acronym for Poets, Playwrights, Essayists and Novelists) was founded in the fall of 1989. The main criterion for joining PEN is not the number of books published or even the recommendations of colleagues, but a statement in which the future member of the organization promises to adhere to the principles listed in the PEN Charter. By joining PEN, its members pledge to do everything possible to develop literature and oppose any form of oppression of freedom of speech and expression in Ukraine and around the world.

Last year, PEN Ukraine traditionally compiled a list of publications that impressed its members during the year, which included 201 books, including works by Odesa poet Andriy Hayetskyi.

The poetry collection "Something", which was included in the list, contains poems about "where" the heart of a southern man beats fastest and "what" this heart is capable of carrying during the years allotted to it. The collection covers poems from 2016 to 2023, a period of time marked by premonitions of inevitable change, the experience of great loss, and the need to learn to live and love in a changed reality.

PEN Ukraine has been compiling the list of books for eight years in a row. The current list includes prose and poetry novelties, translations, drama, nonfiction, works for children, art publications and humanities.

Кирило Бойко

Також Вам може сподобатись:

April 7, 2026

Odesa Regional Employment Center Explains Labor Duty

A bus passenger dies in an accident in Odesa

April 6, 2026

The Government has allocated 718 million for communication in Odesa region and with Moldova

Director of Municipal Security Department in Odesa appointed without competition

A hurricane hits the north of Odesa region

Debris removal completed in Odesa after night attack

Labor duty introduced in Odesa

Declarations of two MPs from Odesa region found to be unreliable

In Odesa, homes of 19 thousand families were cut off from electricity as a result of a night attack

ONU lecturer Muzychko hides from official investigation

Odesa announces a day of mourning for those killed in the night attack

Glorifier of Russia in Odesa is on probation for three years

Child killed in Odesa by Russian shelling

April 5, 2026

Rehabilitated bats released in Odesa park for the first time

Odesa hospital unreasonably received funds from the National Health Service