Norway has a three-year scholarship program aimed at supporting Ukrainian authors who document their wartime experiences. About this was going during the discussion “Support in action: how Norway helps Ukrainian culture”, which took place within the Book Arsenal in Kyiv.
Arve Hansen and Oge Borhgrevink from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Bernard Mohr, a representative of the Norwegian Association of Authors and Translators of Nonfiction, spoke as part of the special program of the Ukrainian PEN “Cardiogram of Translation”. They emphasized the importance of spreading reliable information about the modern Russian-Ukrainian war among the Scandinavian audience and talked about the widespread support for Ukrainian artists and culture in general.
The scholarship program was launched in 2024 jointly by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Norwegian Association of Nonfiction Authors and Translators, the Norwegian Writers’ Union and Ukrainian PEN. Last year, 10 scholarships were awarded, and this year their number will increase to 20. Each scholarship will amount to 5,000 euros (in hryvnia equivalent) and is intended to support Ukrainian writers and journalists in creating new texts that record the events and experiences related to the war since 2014.
The jury will evaluate the projects in three directions: non-fiction (in particular, reports, biographies, essays, interviews), fiction (novels, short stories, poetry, drama), as well as literature for children and teenagers – both fiction and documentary.
Applications will be accepted until July 31, and the winners will be announced on September 30. A requirement for entry is to have at least one published fiction or non-fiction book at the time of submission.
The work created within the framework of the program must be published in a Ukrainian publishing house no later than November 30 of the following year. Some of the participants will also have the opportunity to present their projects in Norway. The program is financed by the Norwegian Development Agency with the support of The Nansen Support Program for Ukraine initiative.
