Kharkiv is OSB boards on hundreds of thousands of windows, the smell of menthol cigarettes in bars frequented by bohemians, fancy coffee and scrambles in the morning after a night of loud explosions. It's Derzhprom, benches, trash cans, "kernesans" and the meme "Misha, you have a boring face, no one will give you money!" These are the military, volunteers, students, artists and scientists, the Slovo House, and the same call "Get away from Moscow!" proclaimed 90 years ago, which has found new life in the daily resistance of a million of its residents. We visited Kharkiv and talked to writers, poets, architects, and volunteers to find out how it lives today.

Panorama of Kharkiv. Photo: Maria Puntus

The scene. The audience. Literature. In Every Word – Kharkiv.

They had their first date near the Slovo House. Wine, rain, and the atmosphere of literary bohemia – this is where the most famous poets and prose writers of the "Executed Renaissance" wrote and lived (and sometimes died, like Mykola Khvylovyi) 100 years ago.

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