Stories by Ukrainian authors Valerii Puzik and Vladyslav Holovin have been included in the collection “Letters to Our Sons” by British actor Stephen Graham, known for the Netflix series “Adolescence” (Adolescence), and psychology lecturer Orly Klein.
The book has been published by the British publisher Bloomsbury. It is a collection of letters to sons about love, fears, mistakes and the words that are sometimes hard to say out loud. Among the contributors are Javier Bardem, Riz Ahmed, Tom Daley, Louis Theroux, Danny Dyer and others.
The publisher Vivat will release the book in Ukrainian. This was announced by the publishing house’s CEO, Yuliia Orlova.
“Puzik writes to his son about how to be a good person, make difficult choices, and remain true to yourself,” Orlova says. “Holovin writes about his decision to stay in Ukraine after the start of the full-scale invasion, his work as a journalist during the war, parental mistakes, and the more than two thousand kilometres that separate them today.”
She also quotes several excerpts from the letters.
Valerii Pushchik:
“Don’t strive to look like a good person. Strive to be one. Live in such a way that after you, things become at least a little brighter. Not necessarily for the whole world—at least for one person: a friend, a loved one, a child, someone who meets you on the hardest day of their life. And if one day you ask yourself: have I become a good person?—don’t measure it by other people’s words and praise. Look at the people around you. Can they entrust you with their pain, their weakness, their truth? Do they feel calmer when they are with you?”
Vladyslav Holovin:
“The hardest thing for me in these years of separation is not the missiles, not the shelling, and not the power cuts. The most painful thing is coming home after work, opening the door and not hearing: ‘Dad’s home!’.”