The Death of Volodymyr Vakulenko Should Hit Very Close to Home

Марія Лисицька-Бескорса, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Volodymyr Vakulenko was one of us. He was a poet and a children’s fiction writer. He posted to Wikipedia. He kept a diary during the Russian occupation of Kharkiv. He buried it under a cherry tree when it seemed as if they were coming for him.

He went missing in March when Russian troops seized Kapitolivka, his hometown. He was abducted in a car bearing the occupying Russian Z symbol. They falsely accused him of being a Fascist, a common ploy used against people who didn’t hide their disdain about the Russian invasion.

Volodymyr Vakulenko was a writer like so many of us, a writer of books for children. Like many of us, he loved to read his books aloud. He loved speaking to groups of children in schools. Vakulenko won several Ukrainian and international literary prizes. His books have been translated into English, German, Belarussian, Crimean Tatar, and Esperanto. He leaves behind a 7-year-old son, Vitalii, and his parents.

His body was identified in a mass grave. Listen to the NPR segment below.

Old Lion Publishing House is reissuing Daddy’s Book by Volodymyr Vakulenko. All revenue from the upcoming edition will go to the late author’s family–his parents and his son Vitalii.