The Peterson Literary Foundation has announced five finalists for the international Peterson Literary Prize, which aims to recognise non-fiction written in Ukrainian or English and to promote a better understanding of issues of global relevance that are connected to Ukraine. This is reported on the prize’s website.
The list includes:
- “Lists” by war documentarian and writer Myroslav Laiuk.
According to the description, “Lists” brings together reportage and essays about losses during the war and about what, and why, people value. In particular, it includes testimonies and reflections on flooded Kherson and devastated Pokrovsk, the shelled Kyiv children’s hospital Okhmatdyt and Kharkiv’s Derzhprom, as well as the loss of homes, loved ones, childhood, body parts, sight, sleep and memory.
The book was published by Ukrainer in 2025.
- “The Living: Understanding Ukrainian Literature” by writer and cultural scholar Oleksandr Mykhed and his father, scholar and literary critic Pavlo Mykhed.
As the description notes, “The Living: Understanding Ukrainian Literature” spans two centuries of Ukrainian literature—from stories about the lives of the classics to a conversation about generations of Ukrainians whose fate has brought them terrible trials. It discusses such figures of Ukrainian literature as Mykola Hohol, Olha Kobylianska, Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi, Vasyl Stefanyk, Olha Kobylianska, Mykola Khvylovyi, Olena Teliha, Valerian Pidmohylnyi, Ivan Bahrianyi, Hryhir Tiutiunnyk and Taras Prokhasko.
The work was published by The Old Lion Publishing House in 2024.
- “David and Goliath: Commentaries on the Russo-Ukrainian War” by Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy.
In “David and Goliath”, Plokhy uses short essays, commentaries and interviews in which the biblical images of David and Goliath reflect the nature of the Russo-Ukrainian war—one in which Ukraine resists and demonstrates that it is possible to defend successfully against Russia, a territorially larger, more populous and better-equipped enemy that threatens nuclear apocalypse should Ukraine refuse to submit, and should the West intervene in the war. The book aims to show that history can help reveal the reasons for Ukraine’s determination and success on the battlefield and on the international stage.
It was published in English by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute in 2026.
- “Russia against Ukraine: Russian Political Mythology and the War on Ukrainian Identity”, edited by political scientist Anton Shekhovtsov.
The book aims to examine the socio-cultural foundations and political manifestations of contemporary anti-Ukrainian sentiment in the Russian state and society.
It was published in English by the German publisher Ibidem Press in 2026.
- “Stalin's Liquidation Game: The Unlikely Case of Oleksandr Shums'kyi, His Survival in Soviet Prison, and His Subsequent Arcane Assassination” by Australian historian Philip Slaveski and Ukrainian historian Yurii Shapoval.
“Stalin’s Liquidation Game” tells the story of Oleksandr Shumskyi, a Ukrainian political figure of the Soviet era who actively promoted Ukrainisation in the 1920s. According to the description, for more than 10 years he supported protest against Stalinist repression and refused to confess to “crimes”. Instead, Stalin punished him ruthlessly, imprisoning Shumskyi and killing his wife. The book aims to open a new window onto the history of Soviet repression and Russian pathologies regarding Ukrainian independence, and to help make sense of Russia’s current war against Ukraine.
It was published in English by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute in 2025.
The prize includes a cash award of 30,000 Canadian dollars, of which 25,000 will go to the winner and 5,000 to the publisher. The remaining finalists will also receive 5,000 dollars.
The jury, chaired by the foundation’s chief administrator and Canadian political scientist Lisa Shimko, includes Nadiia Hereliuk, John Jaworsky, Alexander Motyl and Marko Robert Stech. “The free world must act decisively to protect and promote fact-based books—vital messengers of truth and the universal aspiration for freedom,” Shimko said.
This year, the winner announcement and awards ceremony will take place on 22 November in Toronto.
About the Peterson Prize:
- an international literary prize held every two years;
- initiated by the Peterson Literary Foundation, founded by Canadian philanthropist Stanley Peterson and operating under the auspices of the BCU Foundation;
- the awards ceremony is held annually in Toronto.