War, Memory, and Bravery: Ukrainian Author Wins French Prize

Ukrainian writer and political scientist Anastasia Fomichova has become one of the winners of the prestigious French literary prize named after André Malraux for her book "Volia: Engagée volontaire dans la résistance ukrainienne" (“Will. A Volunteer in the Ukrainian Resistance”).

The Gaze reports on it, referring to Chytomo.

Anastasia Fomichova's book, written in French and published in September 2025 by Grasset, received an award in the category “Socially Conscious Fiction.”

Anastasia Fomichova's book “Volia” is a profound and personal account of war, and at the same time a symbolic reflection on the Ukrainian struggle for freedom. The title of the work, “Volia,” has no exact equivalent in English, as it combines the meanings of freedom, determination, and the desire for action. This word becomes the leitmotif of the book, conveying the spirit of an entire nation resisting aggression.

Anastasia Fomichova was born in Kyiv in 1993 and grew up in France. She first began to actively communicate with the Ukrainian diaspora during the protests on the Maidan. Since 2016, Fomichova has accompanied groups of volunteers to the front lines, and in 2017, she trained as a paramedic in the Hospitaliers battalion. It was this experience that marked the beginning of her direct involvement in military operations and humanitarian aid on the front lines.

With the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, she returned to Ukraine to save lives on the front lines — during the defense of Kyiv, on the Eastern Front, and in the counteroffensive on Kherson. Her story demonstrates dedication and courage, and the book conveys not only personal experience but also the collective resilience of Ukrainians.

However, "Volia" is not just a war diary. Through her own and her family's history, the author traces the deep roots of the current conflict, which reach back to the Soviet past. She raises the topics of the Holodomor, the Soviet nomenclature, and the Chernobyl disaster — events that shaped the historical memory of Ukrainians and influenced her own destiny.

It is a penetrating yet painful book about human dignity, memory, and resilience. It reads like a testimony and a tribute to those who gave their lives for freedom, reminding us that Ukraine's struggle is also a struggle for a free Europe.

The André Malraux Prize, established in honor of the French writer and intellectual, is traditionally awarded to authors whose works are devoted to human existence and cultural exploration. The cash prize of €1,933 symbolically recalls the year when Malraux himself received the Goncourt Prize for his novel "The Human Condition" (La Condition humaine).

Like Anastasia Fomichova, another Ukrainian writer, Viktoria Amelina, has gained international recognition for her literary work related to the war in Ukraine. Her book War & Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War won the 2025 Orwell Prize in the Political Writing category, highlighting Ukrainian women's resistance to Russian aggression through the stories of a soldier, a human rights activist, and a librarian.

Amelina was killed in a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk in June 2023. After her death, the material for the book was compiled in collaboration with her husband and a group of writers and published in spring 2025 by Macmillan Publishers St. Martin's Press.

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