Winner of the Shevchenko Prize.
Host: Tatyana Troshchinskaya
Guest: Tamara Gorikha-Zernya
On March 9, the birthday of Taras Shevchenko, the winners of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize were announced. This difficult year, the prize was awarded to the novel «Dotsya» by author Tamara Gorikha-Zernya.
Tamara Gorikha-Zernya: What we wrote in “Dotsya” about the local history of Donetsk is in fact the history of all of Ukraine. What is happening right now is very scary. When I am asked whether to leave or to stay, my first question is «do you have children?» If they have children, I try to persuade them to leave. Children should not see or hear this war. Or any other war. For everyone else, I think, they have to help in any way they can: protect, cook, weave nets, make Molotov cocktails, and so on.
“We are united and strong”
Tamara Gorikha-Zernya: The enemy was counting on our panic and confusion. They were completely unprepared for us to be so united and strong. They already had the opportunity to meet with us more than once, but they are so blinded by pride that they did not understand anything.
Russia threatens the whole world with its imperial ambitions. I am sure that someone will come out of this war, and it will be Ukraine. With Russia, we will simply break their spine. We will make the country safe and non harmful for the environment. Perhaps it will stay within its limits, maybe it will dry out or fall apart. The main thing is that they will not have the strength nor the ability to threaten the world. This is our mission. We are fighting not only for ourselves, we are fighting for the entire world. It is a great honor and responsibility. This is a historic moment that needs to at least be captured and remembered. The opportunity to see this does not happen to every generation. It happened to us.