“Yeva speaks a truth all of us must listen to.” Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse

“Everyone knows what the word ‘war’ means, but practically no one knows what this word really represents. I want the world to know what we have experienced.” – Yeva Skalietska

On the 24th of February 2022, 12-year-old Yeva Skalietska woke to the terrifying sound of shelling. The Russian invasion of Ukraine had begun, and the destruction of Yeva’s home city of Kharkiv was all around her. This is how she began her incredible diary, detailing twelve days in the Ukraine that changed European history.

Yeva Skalietska has since made her way from Kharkiv via Budapest to Dublin, where she will be in conversation with one of Ireland’s most beloved writers, Roddy Doyle. Yeva’s book, You Don’t Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl from Ukraine, is a powerful insight into a child’s-eye view of international warfare, and an essential perspective for all of us.

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Yeva Skalietska is from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Her diary, You Don’t Know What War Is, was published by Bloomsbury in 2022. She lives in Dublin.

Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of eleven acclaimed novels including The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van and Smile, two collections of short stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents.