New Translations of Ukrainian Books to Be Published in Lithuania, France, and Britain

New translations of Ukrainian books appear in Lithuania, France, and Britain, highlighting wartime experiences, philosophy, and women’s voices, with major publishers releasing acclaimed works abroad.

In Lithuania, the book The Train Arrives on Time by Marichka Paplauskaite will be published; in Britain, the short story collection My Women by Yuliia Iliukha has been released; and in France, Life on the Edge by Volodymyr Yermolenko and Tetiana Ogarkova.

This was reported by Chytomo.

The Train Arrives on Time. Stories of People and Railways was published by the Lithuanian boutique publishing house Lapas, marking the book’s first foreign translation. In Lithuania, translated by Vytas Dekšnys, it was released under the title Traukinys atvyksta laiku. Ukrainos žmonių ir geležinkelių istorijos.

“The publisher has a very similar approach to creating a reader-oriented product as The Ukrainians Media, so I am especially happy about this collaboration,” wrote writer, editor, and journalist Marichka Paplauskaite.

“On February 24, 2022, Ukrainian railway stations simultaneously became both shelter and a primary target for the enemy, while railway workers became defenders of the state, responsible for evacuating the country’s population. Train punctuality surpassed that of European schedules: railway workers immediately repaired tracks destroyed by strikes, opened new rail lines, and distributed medicines and food in train cars. They helped evacuate more than four million people from Ukraine, as well as 115,000 dogs, cats, and other pets. The chronicle reveals not only the author’s literary talent, but also the authentic language of residents, the dark humor of wartime, and the spirit of resistance — the stories of Ukrainians firmly state that the railways are still running on schedule,” the annotation to the Lithuanian edition says.

In Ukraine, The Train Arrives on Time was published by the Laboratory publishing house in 2024. The foreword was written by British actor, writer, and director Stephen Fry. The cover design was created by Vadym Blonskyi.

The philosophical reportage book Life on the Edge: Ukraine, Culture, and War was published by France’s largest independent publishing house, Gallimard. Translated by Louise Henri, it was released under the title La vie à la lisière. Être ukrainien aujourd’hui.

“We have been reading books by this publishing house since our youth — a house that has published and continues to publish key figures of French literature and the humanities. It is an honor for us to be among them,” philosopher, essayist, and translator Volodymyr Yermolenko wrote on Facebook.

The cover photograph was taken by Ukrainian photojournalist and journalist Yuliia Kochetova.

“War changes the most fundamental dimensions of human existence: the perception of time and space, ideas of beauty and love, of home and death. It also gives rise to new concepts, such as ‘afterlife’ — the state of a person who has already lost everything. Why does a period of destruction and extreme individual and collective vulnerability simultaneously reveal the power of trust in one’s neighbor and the need for poetry? Drawing on their trips to devastated combat zones, the stories heard there, their own observations and encounters, the authors created this piercing philosophical testimonial text. It is both a window into reality and an ode to literature — an attempt to comprehend and convey the lessons of life on the edge, ‘in the place where life stubbornly fights for itself and for every millimeter that belongs to it,’” the annotation to the French edition reads.

In Ukraine, the book was published in 2025 by the Spirit and Letter publishing house.

The short prose collection My Women by writer, journalist, and volunteer Yuliia Iliukha was published by the British publishing house The Indigo Press. The book was translated into English by Hanna Leviv. This is the publication’s 14th translation.

The cover was designed by graphic designer and art director Luke Bird. The cover illustration is taken from the Ukrainian edition and was created by Olha Rotaienko.

“This is a powerful and rare novel composed of a series of sharp novellas about women who have faced the countless brutalities of war. It conveys the voices and devastating experiences of those who were silenced, those who lost loved ones, those who fought and endured, and those who broke. Through an original style and poetic repetition, the unnamed protagonists tell concise and emotionally charged stories that recreate life during the war in Ukraine with a painful intensity that is at once deeply moving,” the annotation to the edition says.

In Ukraine, the bilingual (Ukrainian and English) book My Women was published in 2024 by the Bilka publishing house. The same year, the book was awarded the BBC Book of the Year prize.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, the novel House for Home by Viktoriia Amelina received a grant to support its release on the English-language market.

EMPR