Victoria Donovan
victoriadonovan.bsky.social
Victoria Donovan
@victoriadonovan.bsky.social
Prof @StAModLangs/Ukraine, extractivist politics, colonial encounters/Rep'd by Sophie Scard @UnitedAgents

Life in Spite of Everything: Tales from the Ukrainian East: https://dauntbookspublishing.co.uk/book/life-in-spite-of-everything/
This is such brilliant news for us and for GloPost @sta-modlangs.bsky.social! Looking forward to learning much from Abi and programming loads of Moldova content over the next few years! Congratulations, Abi!!! 🎉🎉
We are happy to announce that Abigal Karas will join us as Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in September. Her project, mentored by Prof Victoria Donovan, is entitled, ‘Heritage after the Future: Urban Branding and Cultural Identity in Moldova’. 🎉🎉🎉
June 13, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
@victoriadonovan.bsky.social reflects on the deep-rooted culture of local initiative in Ukraine — and how communities step in where the state cannot.

Watch the full conversation, which marked the launch of our Ukraine Community Resilience Fund:

🔗 bearr.org/2025/04/10/b...
May 21, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
You can now order my book via Ibidem. These are stories with a bit of humor and history, and I hope they are saying more about Kharkiv than my ever-modest self 😅. Big thanks to @maksymeristavi.com and @victoriadonovan.bsky.social - my first readers & inspirations. www.ibidem.eu/en/Topics/So...
Kharkiv—A War City
Kharkiv—A War City - This unique collection of essays offers a glimpse into life in and around Kharkiv during the first two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A Kharkiv native, Vikoriia
www.ibidem.eu
May 30, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
verschiedene Sanktionsarten kritisch bewertet wird. Abschließend eröffnet die Untersuchung neue Perspektiven für die gerichtliche Praxis und die Forschung.

@victoriadonovan.bsky.social, Professorin für ukrainische und osteuropäische Studien an der schottischen University 28/31
June 2, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Thank you @thebearrtrust.bsky.social for inviting me to talk about Life in Spite of Everything at the launch of the Ukraine Community Resilience Fund last night! BEARR is an inspiring organisation that's raised £600K+ since 2022 and is supporting all the right organisations. Amazing work!
📣Introducing Ukraine Community Resilience Fund!

Since 2022, BEARR has raised £600k+ to support grassroots NGOs in 🇺🇦 & 🇲🇩. Now, we’re shifting from emergency aid to long-term recovery — mental health, inclusion & more.

🗓️Launch event with Prof Victoria Donovan on 8 May
🔗 bearr.org/ukraine-comm...
May 9, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Beautiful review of Life in Spite of Everything by Andrey Kurkov in yesterday's Observer, also featuring one of my favourite photographs in the book from Sloviansk ❤️: observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Review: A deep study of Ukraine's Donbas beyond war and propaganda
The celebrated Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov reflects on a bittersweet history of Donbas, a battleground in the Russian invasion, but a region full of stories
observer.co.uk
May 5, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
❗️1 week until the launch of Ukraine Community Resilience Fund with @victoriadonovan.bsky.social, Prof of Ukrainian and East European Studies at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social and author of Life in Spite of Everything: Tales from the Ukrainian East.

📅8 May, 18:00 BST

Register bearr.org/2025/04/10/b...
May 1, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
This is tonight! Hear @victoriadonovan.bsky.social talk about her new book about Ukraine, LIFE IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING, published this month @dauntbookspub.bsky.social. 📚😍
Don't miss this wonderful event. Tue 29 April 7:30pm Prof Victoria Donovan will give a book talk at Topping & Company Booksellers of St Andrews on her book 'Life in Spite of Everything'. You can book tickets with a copy of the book included in the price here: toppingbooks.co.uk/events/st-an...
April 29, 2025 at 3:31 PM
I spoke to @FrancisDearnley @telegraphnews.bsky.social podcast "Ukraine: The Latest" about the myth of 'Donbas' and how Russia has instrumentalised and weaponised that myth across time. Listen again on the pod webpage here: shows.acast.com/ukraine-the-...

@dauntbookspub.bsky.social
Putin declares ‘shock’ ceasefire in 'critical week' in Ukraine-Russia peace talks | Ukraine: The Latest
shows.acast.com
April 29, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
To mark the launch of Ukraine Community Resilience Fund, we're hosting a special online event "Life in Spite of Everything: In conversation with Victoria Donovan"

📅8 May, 18:00 BST

Free & open to all, donations to Ukraine Community Resilience Fund are welcome.

Register: bearr.org/2025/04/10/b...
April 22, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Thank you so much, @jenstout.bsky.social!
Absolutely. I can really recommend LIFE IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING by Victoria Donovan, out in April, I just read the proof copy. All about Donbas, landscapes, people, mining, extractive colonial history, and very vivid and personal.
April 24, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
Don't miss this wonderful event. Tue 29 April 7:30pm Prof Victoria Donovan will give a book talk at Topping & Company Booksellers of St Andrews on her book 'Life in Spite of Everything'. You can book tickets with a copy of the book included in the price here: toppingbooks.co.uk/events/st-an...
January 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
Revelatory, evocative and deeply humane, LIFE IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING is a celebration of Ukraine's past and present, and its people’s tenacity, creativity and independence.
Join Victoria Donovan in this book tour coming to a city near you!
dauntbookspublishing.co.uk/victoria-don...
Victoria Donovan’s Book Tour | Daunt Books Publishing
Join Victoria Donovan discussing her book Life in Spite of Everything: Tales from the Ukrainian East in the following dates. These events offer a powerful and timely reflection on Ukraine’s past and p...
dauntbookspublishing.co.uk
February 18, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
The Ukraine Shelf Episode 3: Eastern Ukraine with Olena Stiazhkina and Victoria Donovan
🎧 Listen here: youtu.be/NjoJ40hapDc

Produced in collaboration with @ukrinstitute.bsky.social, @uclssees.bsky.social, @uclei.bsky.social and @britishacademy.bsky.social.
Ukraine Shelf Episode 3: Eastern Ukraine with Olena Stiazhkina and Victoria Donovan
YouTube video by Ukrainian Institute London
youtu.be
April 21, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
A rich cross-disciplinary discussion of a signature experience of our time: uncertainty. Anne McElvoy shepherds (& occasionally soothes) the experts. BBCFreeThinking with Margaret Heffernan, Liam Halligan @chrislintott.bsky.social @fromtga.bsky.social Victoria Donovan
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Uncertainty
Chris Lintott, Margaret Heffernan, Liam Halligan, Tim Garton Ash, Victoria Donovan
www.bbc.co.uk
March 12, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
🚨'A book that shines a spotlight on a part of the world most of us know only from scenes of death and destruction on the television news.' Peter Conradi @thetimes.com on LIFE IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING: TALES FROM THE UKRAINIAN EAST by Victoria Donovan.
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Donbas: land of coal, steel and blood
This mining region in Ukraine was once the beating industrial heart of the Soviet Union. Now it has been devastated by Putin’s war, as Victoria Donovan’s Life in Spite of Everything details
www.thetimes.com
April 21, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
Looking for something to listen to this long weekend? Tune into the latest Ukraine Shelf episode—this time on Eastern Ukraine, a region still too often misunderstood. @uilleamblacker.bsky.social and I speak with brilliant authors Olena Stiazhkina and Victoria Donovan. Link below.
April 21, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Victoria Donovan
📢Event alert! Edinburgh friends, Victoria Donovan, author of LIFE IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING: TALES FROM THE UKRAINIAN EAST will be in discussing her book with Vlada Vazheyevskyy.

📍Lighthouse Bookshop, Edinburgh
📅Thu 24 April, 7:00pm

FEW TICKETS REMAINING
www.lighthousebookshop.com/events/tales...
Lighthouse | Life in Spite of Everything : Tales from the Ukrainian East with Victoria Donovan
www.lighthousebookshop.com
April 21, 2025 at 2:58 PM
In April and May I'll be touring my forthcoming book Life in Spite of Everything: Tales from the Ukrainian East. If you are in the vicinity of any of the venues that I'm talking at, please do come and say hello 👋. And watch this space for dates in Ukraine and Wales in June and July! 🇺🇦🇺🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
April 18, 2025 at 10:59 AM