Michael Morpurgo Meets Yeva Skalietska - You Don't Know What War Is | How To Academy
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Wed, 2 November 2022

6:30 pm - 7:30 pm GMT

Michael Morpurgo Meets Yeva Skalietska – You Don’t Know What War Is

A Free Livestream Event

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12-year-old Ukrainian Yeva Skalietska kept a diary through the first days of the Russian invasion. In this free event, she shares her story with authors Michael Morpurgo and Nicolette Jones.

Everyone knows the word ‘war’. But very few understand what it truly means. When you find you have to face it, you feel totally lost, walled in by fright and despair. Until you’ve been there, you don’t know what war is.

Yeva Skalietska was woken in the early hours to the terrifying sounds of shelling. Russia had invaded Ukraine, and her beloved Kharkiv home was no longer the safe haven it should have been. It was while she and her granny were forced to seek shelter in a damp, cramped basement that Yeva decided to write down her story. And it is a story that the world needs to hear.

In this livestream In Conversation event with War Horse author Michael Morpurgo and writer and critic Nicolette Jones, Yeva will tell the story of her journey to safety from Ukraine to Dublin, offering a powerful insight into what conflict is like for a child.

This event will be suitable for both adults and older children. Proceeds will be donated to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

Praise for Yeva Skalietska’s You Don’t Know What War Is:

‘I wish Yeva Skalietska hadn’t felt the need to write this book but I’m glad that she did write it – because it is exhilarating, shattering, heartbreaking, brilliant. It’s an extraordinary book.’ Roddy Doyle

‘The most important story of our times told from the inside by the best narrator: a wise twelve-year-old girl. Yeva’s diary is compelling, urgent and heartbreaking.’ Viv Groskop

‘This book has touched my heart in a way that I am finding hard to put into words. Everyone, absolutely everyone, should read it. You will love Yeva.’ Christy Lefteri

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Yeva Skalietska

Ukrainian Refugee and Author

Yeva Skalietska is a 12-year-old Ukrainian girl who grew up living with her granny in Kharkiv, near the Russian border. She loves learning languages, bowling, playing the piano and painting. Yeva wrote a diary of her experiences of fleeing war in Ukraine. She now lives in Dublin, Ireland where she has made new friends and had a go at Irish dancing, but is always missing home.

Michael Morpurgo

Author and Former Children’s Laureate

Michael Morpurgo is the former Children’s Laureate and best-selling author of over 150 books, including Private Peaceful, Kensuke’s Kingdom, The Butterfly Lion, and War Horse. In 1976, Michael and his wife, Clare, started the charity Farms for City Children which offers children and teachers from urban primary schools the chance to live and work in the countryside for a week, and gain hands-on experience. Michael received a Knighthood in 2018.

Nicolette Jones

Writer and Critic

Nicolette Jones is a writer, critic, and occasional broadcaster, whose books include The American Art Tapes: Voices of Twentieth Century Art (Tate Publishing); The Illustrators: Raymond Briggs (Thames & Hudson); The Plimsoll Sensation: The Great Campaign to Save Lives at Sea (Little, Brown); and Writes of Passage: Words to Read Before You Turn 13 (Nosy Crow). She is also the children’s books reviewer of The Sunday Times and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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