Olena Herasymyuk (Hera) is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Ukrainian literature. A poet, writer, activist, and combat medic, she combines personal experience with the collective memory of a country shaped by war. Born in Kyiv in 1991, she studied literature and gained early recognition with her poetry collection Deafness, followed by the books Execution Calendar and A Prison Song. Her writing explores themes of historical trauma, identity, violence, and human resilience in the face of catastrophe. Since 2017, she has served as a medic with the volunteer medical battalion Hospitallers, transforming her frontline experiences into powerful and urgent poetry. Together with Yevhen Lir, she co-founded the Unwritten project, which documents the lives and legacies of Ukrainian writers, poets, and other literary figures killed in the war. Translated into several European languages, her work offers a unique testimony to contemporary Ukraine, where literature serves not only as an art form but also as an act of remembrance and civic resistance.

Photo: www.instagram.com/hera_309/