Speaker
Tamara Horikha Zernya
Tamara Horikha Zernya is an author, her debut novel, Dotsya (Daughter) was the winner of the BBC Ukrainian Book of the Year award in 2019. Prior to the war, Tamara worked as a translator, she has since worked as a volunteer on the frontlines, an experience that informed her debut novel. Dotsya has been described as having given a literary voice to the conflict.
Speaker
Marta Shokalo
Marta Shokalo is a journalist at the BBC, where she has been a Senior Editor since 2019. Before this, she had worked as a journalist at the BBC for 15 years. Marta has also served as a jury member for the BBC Ukrainian Book of the Year awards.
Moderator
Svitlana Pyrkalo
Svitlana Pyrkalo is a Ukrainian writer and a permanent panel member on the BBC Ukrainian Book of the Year prize. During her 15-year career in print and broadcast journalism, Svitlana worked as a news journalist and radio presenter at the BBC Ukrainian Service in London, wrote regular columns for Ukrainsky Tyzhden, Gazeta po-Ukrainsky, Glavred, Stolichnaya Gazeta and other publications. In the early 2000s, she managed a TV show on 1+1 Channel in Ukraine, worked as deputy editor-in-chief of the first, and only, Ukrainian language fashion magazine, EVA. She started her career in the secretariat of Narodny Rukh Ukrainy, a national democratic political party.
Svitlana currently works in the field of international development. Her education spans linguistics, finance and international relations.