War, Memory, and Shifting Borders with Oksana Maksymchuk and Philippe Sands

How do we make sense of war, shifting borders, and forced displacement? How can we remember and speak about these things, and how can literature act as a witness, perhaps even bring a sense of justice? And what lessons can we draw from the tumultuous history of Ukraine and Europe to help us understand what is happening today? This special edition of the Ukraine Shelf podcast featuring poet Oksana Maksymchuk and international lawyer and author Philippe Sands was recorded live at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The episode is hosted by the podcast's creators Olesya Khromeychuk (author The Death of a Soldier Told By His Sister and director of the Ukraine Institute London) and literary translator and Ukraine scholar, Uilleam Blacker. Books discussed: Oksana Maksymchuk, Still City (Carcanet, 2025) Philippe Sands, East West Street (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2016) and 38 Londres Street (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2025) Guest recommendations: Natalia Vorozhbyt, Bad Roads, translated by Sasha Dugdale (Nick Hern Books, 2017) Józef Wittlin and Philippe Sands, City of Lions: A Portrait of a City in Two Acts: Lviv Then and Now (Pushkin Press, 2023) (Wittlin’s is essay translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones).