Category: 2025

Lisa Shymko holds an M.A. in Political Science (University of Toronto) and a Four-year Honours B.A. with a Specialist in Canadian constitutional law and Soviet history and a Double Minor in Economics and Slavic Studies (University of St. Michael’s College – University of Toronto).

Ms. Shymko brings unique insight into all aspects of communications, having spent decades in the media, nongovernmental, and financial services sectors.

Her news articles and opinion pieces on global security issues have appeared in The Globe and Mail, The American Spectator, Maclean’s magazine, and Ukraine’s daily newspaper, The Day (Hazeta Den’).

Ms. Shymko served as a media advisor to Ukraine’s first ambassador to Canada— former Soviet dissident Levko Lukianenko — writing several editorials for the ambassador, including a 1993 op-ed for the Globe and Mail.

Lisa Shymko was appointed by the City of Toronto to serve on the Toronto Public Library Board, and was later elected Chair of its Services, Planning and Capital Committee. She has managed two international book exhibitions in the House of Commons in Ottawa and the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine in Kyiv.

Ms. Shymko managed several international development projects, including the Ukraine-Canada Journalists Exchange Program for the International Renaissance Foundation of the Soros Foundations Network.

She was the founding Director of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Resource Centre at the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine in Kyiv, established by Canadian Friends of Ukraine in cooperation with the Government of Canada.

At the invitation of the Government of Canada, she has testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and collaborated on the drafting of historic Canadian legislation recognizing Ukraine’s Stalin-era famine as genocide, for which her efforts were officially acknowledged in the House of Commons in 2008. Between 2010–2015, she was part of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s delegation on three official visits to Ukraine.

As Director of Corporate Communications for BCU Financial Group, she spearheaded the creation of Forum TV — a community-based television program supported by BCU Foundation and broadcast nationally on Rogers-OMNI, where she served as Supervising Director (2012–2017).

Ms. Shymko has chaired and held various board positions in several nongovernmental organizations, including the Ukraine Support Fund, BCU Foundation, and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. In 2024, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the NATO Association of Canada.

As a member of the Canada Ukraine Foundation’s advisory committee for the Holodomor National Awareness Tour, she chaired the Canadian film premiere of Hunger for Truth: The Rhea Clyman Story (2018) and edited the French translation of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory’s publication, entitled L’Holodomor: Génocide du Peuple Ukrainien, produced by the Canada Ukraine Foundation (2020).

Ms. Shymko is past Chair of Guardian Angels Ukraine, a veteran’s rehabilitation project which operated in Ukraine under the auspices of the LUCW, in cooperation with NATO’s Medical Rehabilitation Trust Fund (2014–2017).

She is a frequent speaker at international conferences, including the 2021 Virtual NGO Forum of the 65th Session of the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women and the NATO Association of Canada conference, Crisis Response: Is Canada Prepared? — Unrest on NATO’s Eastern Flank: Ukraine, Baltic States, Russia (2017).

Lisa Shymko is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including: The Presidential Order of Merit (2009, Ukraine); Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012, Canada); The Medal of Honour of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (2017).

Nadia Gereliouk holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto. Nadia’s interests complement the variety of perspectives shared by the jury vis-à-vis new publications on Ukrainian themes.

Her research interests include contemporary feminist Ukrainian literature, autobiography studies, the politics of memory, the diaspora experience, and migration studies.

She has taught Ukrainian language courses at several Canadian institutions, including the Slavic Languages Department at the University of Toronto. In 2022, her list of books for readers who seek a better understanding of Ukraine, beyond the headlines, was published by The Globe and Mail.

In addition to serving on the board of BCU Foundation, Nadia also serves on the boards of several other non-governmental organizations, including the Toronto Ukrainian School Board, contributing to its ongoing curriculum development, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Toronto Branch, the League of Ukrainian Canadians, and the Shevchenko Scientific Society of Canada.

Among the charitable projects where Nadia serves as a board member is the Saskatoon-based non-for-profit Stream of Hopes Aid for Ukraine Inc., whose activities help disadvantaged children in Ukraine

Ivan (John) Jaworsky is Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo. His research interests include dissent in the Soviet Union (especially Soviet Ukraine) and its legacies in the Soviet successor states, regional issues and inter-ethnic relations in Ukraine, civil-military relations in Ukraine, the Ukrainian diaspora, and Canada’s multiculturalism policy. Between 2000 and 2010 he was a research associate with the “Building Democracy in Ukraine” and “Democratic Education in Ukraine” projects (Queen’s University). He is the author of The Military-Strategic Significance of Recent Developments in Ukraine (1993), Ukraine: Stability and Instability (1995), and articles on a variety of topics, with a focus on contemporary Ukraine. He also prepared for publication the English-language versions of the memoirs of Ukraine’s first minister of defence, Kostiantyn Morozov (Above and Beyond, Harvard University Press), and of the dissident and political prisoner Danylo Shumuk (Life Sentence, CIUS). 

He is a frequent conference speaker, providing insights into the global security implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine. He has been actively engaged in supporting newcomers from Ukraine settling in the Canadian community of Kitchener-Waterloo, where professor Jaworsky currently resides. His webinars have focused on Ukrainian migration as it relates to historic memory, identity, and resilience. Ivan Jaworsky was recently appointed a Fellow of the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), Waterloo.

Alexander J. Motyl is a painter, writer, and professor. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2008 and 2013, he is the author of eleven novels and a collection of poetry. His artwork has been shown in solo and group shows in New York, Philadelphia, Westport, and Toronto and is part of the permanent collection of the Ukrainian Museum in New York and the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Winnipeg. He has done performances of his fiction at the Cornelia Street Café and the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. 

Motyl earned his PhD from Columbia University where he has lectured. He has also taught at Lehigh University, the Kyiv-Mohyla University, and Harvard University. He currently teaches political science at Rutgers University-Newark and the Ukrainian Free University in Munich. He frequently contributes opinion columns in such publications as Foreign Policy, 19FortyFive, and the Kyiv Post.

He is the author of eight academic books and numerous articles. He is the 2019 Laureate of the Omelian and Tatiana Antonovych Foundation. According to Academic Influence, Motyl was ranked sixth among the “Top Ten Most Influential Political Scientists Today.”  

Marko Robert Stech is a writer, literary scholar, and specialist in the history of culture.

He holds a PhD in Slavic Studies and a MASc in Engineering from the University of Toronto.

He holds several positions at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) of the University of Alberta and University of Toronto: director of CIUS Press and Scholarly Publications, overseeing the Press, the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies and Ukraina Moderna; and project manager of the Hrushevsky Translation Project.

His novel, The Voice («Голос»), won the 2009 Mykola Gogol International Prize for Literature. He is the author of  Essays in Search of Sources («Есеїстика у пошуках джерел»), the experimental novel The Undying («Невмирущі»), and numerous other essays.

He is the compiler of the literary legacies of Ihor Kostetsky, Iurii Kosach, and Emma Andiievska; and a compiler and editor of an anthology of Ukrainian short prose in Czech translations.

He has written and produced over 100 episodes of the «Очима культури» TV series on Kontakt TV (OMNI TV, Canada). His writings have received several awards of recognition. He was awarded the Koshelivets International Literary Prize in 2008 (Israel), the Gogol International Literary Prize in 2009 (Ukraine), and the ‘Hlodoskyi skarb’ International Prize in 2014 (Ukraine).

Неспроможна держава: Іструкція з розшматування Росії

Janusz Bugajski – Author
Maria Dubrova, Anna Melnychenko, Oleksandr Okhrimenko, Hanna Rak – Translators
Language of translation: Ukrainian

Publishers: Jamestown Foundation / ARC.UA     
Language of translation: Ukrainian

In this book, Janusz Bugajski argues that the Russian Federation is not a stable successor to the Soviet Union but a failed state confronting profound structural and political decay. After three decades of failed efforts to transform Russia into a nation-state, a civic polity, or a sustainable empire, the federation remains built on fragile historical foundations and lacks a shared national identity capable of uniting its population. Instead, Russia is defined by deep internal conflict—between nationalists, imperialists, centralists, liberals, and federalists—alongside growing tensions between Moscow and the country’s regions and ethnic republics.

Bugajski traces Russia’s accelerating state failure to a convergence of long-term pressures: economic stagnation, widening social and regional inequalities, demographic decline, entrenched corruption, personalist rule, institutional distrust, and the erosion of public faith in official propaganda. As repression intensifies to preserve central control under deteriorating conditions, the risk of violent rupture increases.

The book contends that Vladimir Putin, who rose to power promising to prevent Russia’s disintegration, may ultimately be remembered as the leader who presided over it. As Moscow’s authority weakens, new territorial entities and proto-states are likely to emerge, shaped by regional, ethnic, and political revivals. These successor entities will follow divergent paths—some forming new states, others experimenting with federal or confederal arrangements—while border disputes and regional instability remain likely.

Bugajski concludes by examining the international consequences of a fragmenting Russia and the strategic choices facing the United States and its allies. He argues that managing Russia’s rupture will require supporting regional self-determination, strengthening the security of neighbouring states, coordinating with major powers, and promoting transatlantic engagement with emerging post-Russian entities.

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Про свободу

Timothy Snyder – Author
Halyna Herasym – Translator

Publisher: Crown Publishing / Choven Publishing House
Language of translation: Ukrainian

In his book On Freedom, Timothy Snyder examines one of the most invoked yet least understood ideals of modern political life. While freedom is often celebrated as a defining feature of democratic societies, Snyder asks a more fundamental question: what does it truly mean to be free, and how can freedom be sustained in an increasingly complex and fragile world? The 2025 Translated Book Award recognizes the Ukrainian-language edition of this important book.

Drawing on history, philosophy, and lived experience, the book challenges common misconceptions that reduce freedom to the absence of constraint or state interference. Instead, Snyder redefines freedom as a collective and ethical project—one that requires responsibility, solidarity, and the protection of human dignity. Through a series of vivid and deeply personal reflections, ranging from a maternity ward in Vienna to maximum-security prisons and war-torn Ukrainian cities, he illustrates how freedom is shaped, defended, and often endangered.

On Freedom confronts the central challenges facing contemporary societies, including the rise of authoritarianism, growing inequality, opaque digital systems, and climate change. Snyder argues that freedom is being steadily eroded by oligarchic power, unchecked technology, and political cynicism—and that reclaiming it demands conscious action and moral clarity. The book ultimately offers a compelling call to rethink freedom not as an individual possession, but as a shared responsibility that must be actively protected if it is to endure.

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Evgenia Lopata, Andriy Lyubka – Editors
Yulia Lyubka, Kate Tzurkan – Translators

Meridian Czernowitz – Publisher
Language of translation: English

This anthology brings together 35 powerful texts by some of Ukraine’s most prominent writers and intellectuals, offering an unflinching account of the first year of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Through essays, reflections, and personal testimonies, the contributors confront the brutality of war with honesty and moral clarity, preserving the lived experiences of those who witnessed its earliest and most devastating stages. The collection affirms the enduring power of truth and memory, ensuring that the realities of this war are neither forgotten nor diminished over time. It speaks not only to the tragedy of conflict, but also to the painful necessity of resistance in defence of home, dignity, and freedom.

The book is the result of a major initiative by Meridian Czernowitz Publishing House aimed at supporting Ukraine’s literary community in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. By commissioning texts, the project provided direct financial assistance to 100 Ukrainian authors during an exceptionally difficult period. 

The anthology has played an important role in bringing Ukrainian voices to a global readership, with additional editions published in Latvian and Lithuanian and a German translation forthcoming. The foreword, written by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, underscores the historical significance of the collection and has further amplified its international impact.

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Stories of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions from the Early 2000s 

Kateryna Zarembo – Author
Tetiana Savchynska – Translator

Publisher: Choven Publishing House / Academic Studies Press
Language of translation: English

In Ukrainian Sunrise, Kateryna Zarembo offers a nuanced and deeply researched portrait of Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk before Russia’s 2014 invasion. Based on extensive fieldwork, repeated journeys, and interviews with local residents, the book challenges simplified and often distorted narratives that have long dominated media and political discourse. Zarembo reveals a region far more complex, diverse, and rooted in Ukrainian civic and cultural life than commonly portrayed.

The book opens with a critical examination of the very concept of “Donbas,” tracing how Soviet ideology reduced the region to a narrowly defined industrial myth. Zarembo demonstrates how this narrative erased entire communities, marginalized rural populations, and misrepresented linguistic realities. She dismantles the notion that the region was inherently Russian-speaking or predisposed to separatism, arguing instead that these ideas were artificially constructed and later weaponized by Moscow and local political elites.

Subsequent chapters explore the vibrant civic and cultural life that flourished in eastern Ukraine prior to the invasion. Zarembo documents grassroots organizations such as the Donetsk-based group Poshtovkh (“Impulse”), which played a key role in the Ukrainian cultural revival of the early 2000s. She highlights how artists, writers, musicians, and theatre practitioners formed underground cultural networks that resisted both Soviet legacies and political repression. The book also traces the region’s European influences from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, revealing historical ties to Belgian, German, French, and British communities that shaped its development.

Zarembo further examines the overlooked role of villages as carriers of Ukrainian identity and explores the religious diversity of the region, including Protestant, Orthodox, Greek Catholic, and Muslim communities, many of which re-emerged following Ukraine’s independence after decades of Soviet persecution. The book concludes by underscoring the civic engagement of youth movements and football fan communities, whose activism became instrumental in defending Ukraine’s democratic values.

Since 2024, Kateryna Zarembo has served as a combat medic with the Hospitaliers Medical Battalion, continuing to travel to Donetsk and Luhansk regions—now on the frontlines of the very history she so powerfully documents. Her work stands as both a scholarly contribution and a testament to the lived realities of Ukraine’s eastern regions, offering essential context for understanding the roots of Russia’s aggression and the resilience of Ukrainian society.

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Author: Matthew Green
Translator: Iryna Reformator
Translation: English to Ukrainian 

Aftershock follows the journey of veterans as they return from the battlefield into civilian life, exploring the hidden wounds of war—psychological trauma, moral injury, and the struggle to heal. Green presents vivid narratives of ex-servicemen and women whose return is marked by anguish, guilt, and dislocation, set against the broader evolution of military psychiatry from “shell shock” to modern PTSD. Through rigorous research and empathetic storytelling, Aftershock asks what it means “to survive peace” and calls for a more compassionate response to the long, often invisible cost of war.

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