A Kind of Refugee: The Story of an American Who Refused to Leave Ukraine - Paperback

by Larissa Babij (Author), Vladislav Davidzon (Foreword by)

American-born Larissa Babij is at home in Kyiv when Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Her grandparents left Ukraine amidst the violence of World War II, and nearly 80 years later, she is fleeing the advancing Russian army. A Kind of Refugee chronicles the first year of all-out war in Ukraine through vivid dispatches that Babij sent to readers abroad. In cities flooded with refugees and bustling with humanitarian aid efforts, or while supporting an innovative military unit making DIY drones, Babij examines Ukrainian cultures of cooperation. Reflecting on her American upbringing, she ponders the premium that Western societies--shaped by the traumatic history of WW II--place on security. When she returns to Kyiv, sirens, Russian missile strikes, and long periods of darkness organize her days.

Author Biography

Larissa Babij is a Ukrainian-American writer, translator, and dancer based in Kyiv, Ukraine, since 2005. She holds a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, USA, and an MA in Cultural Studies from the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" in Ukraine. She is also a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method of somatic education. Her writing has appeared in The Evergreen Review, Arrowsmith Journal, The Odessa Review, Springerin, and other publications. She reports on living in Ukraine at war and participating in the country's civic-military defense at a Kind of Refugee (see https: //akindofrefugee2022.substack.com/).