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INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange, PEN Ukraine, Truth Hounds, and the New York Literary Festival are proud to present the Fellows of the 2026 Victoria Amelina Fellowship at INDEX in the international and Ukrainian sections:
— Anna Gruver — a Ukrainian writer, poet, and translator. Born in Donetsk, she lived there until the age of 17. She is the author of the novels Her Empty Spaces (“Її порожні місця”), and a book with working title for an English translation Real Estate (“Нерухомість”). Anna is the editor of the memorial book dedicated to the theologian and prisoner of conscience Ihor Kozlovsky, titled Free in Captivity (Вільний у полоні). She also authored the poetry collection Nothing Found for Your Request (За вашим запитом нічого не знайдено), 2019. She translates essays and contemporary poetry both from and into Polish.
“Essays in my collection ‘Invisible Home’, which I will be working on thanks to this Fellowship, are the result of my search for a new poetic form, where dreams are intertwined with literary-critical reflections and an exploration of the relationship with time in the moment of catastrophe. Nostalgia (or more specifically, what is called ‘Heimweh’ in German, homesickness) and the distance of time allow us to look at life and death from different perspectives. These texts are dedicated to the memory of Victoria Amelina who, through all her activities (writing, poetry, volunteering, and reporting), has helped us find, or not lose, our sense of home. Even if it is invisible,” Anna Gruver.
— Lucy Fulford is a journalist, author and filmmaker based near London. Her work centres on migration and displacement, conflict and climate, in publications like The Guardian, The New York Times, The Sunday Times, CNN and RAI. Growing up between cultures has led to her interest in exploring belonging and hidden histories. Her book, The Exiled: Empire, Immigration and the Ugandan Asian Exodus, which weaves together memoir, history and testimony to reveal an overlooked period of post-colonial history, was published in 2023.
“I’m honoured and so grateful to have the opportunity to return to Ukraine, join the incredible work being done at INDEX and play a small part in documenting the country’s war experiences through the lens of finding home in wartime – including some of the millions of people affected by displacement in Ukraine,” shares Lucy Fulford.
The shortlist for the selection also includes:
- In the Ukrainian section: Anna Chasova — a director and screenwriter of documentary shorts and feature films, including Fields of Resilience (2024), Anamnesis (2024), B.2 (2023), Let Death Sing (2022), Supper (2021), Seven Novels About the Murder of a Child (2021), and First Gift (2020); and Anastasiia Platonova — co-editor of the anthology We Who Have Changed (ist publishing, 2024).
- In the international section: Jen Stout — author of the non-fiction book Night Train to Odesa: Covering the Human Cost of Russia’s War (Polygon, 2024); and Lily Hyde — author of the novels Riding Icarus (Walker Books, 2008) and Dream Land (Walker Books, 2008), works for younger readers including Jack and the Dragon’s Tooth (Barrington Stoke, 2007) and Half As Big (A&C Black, 2010), as well as stories on migration and climate change in various anthologies.
This year’s Fellows will be based in Lviv as part of the programme from 1 April to 30 June 2026. At the end of June, they will participate in the programme’s closing event — Victoria Day.
Further information about the participants and their projects will soon be available in the Fellowships/Residentcies section. More details regarding the Victoria Amelina Fellowship can be found via the link.
Programme partners: INDEX, PEN Ukraine, Truth Hounds, the New York Literary Festival.
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This publication was compiled with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. It’s content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Renaissance Foundation.
The work of INDEX is supported by Robert Bosch Stiftung.