Serhiy Zhadan is a Ukrainian poet, novelist and rockstar, and one of Ukraine's most popular cultural figures. He is 51 years old and hails from Kharkiv, which is only some 40km from Russia. He came of age as the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine gained independence.
Mr Zhadan's works capture the experience of his transitional generation, full of rough-and-ready characters confronting social upheaval, political revolution and economic hardship. His anarchic persona and promotion of Ukrainian culture have endeared him to younger audiences reckoning with Russian aggression. He also moonlights as frontman of "Zhadan i sobaky" ("Zhadan and the Dogs"), a popular ska-punk band. Some 4,000 people at a time have attended his poetry readings in Kyiv.
After Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Mr Zhadan initially helped with evacuating children and securing medicine. In 2024 he enlisted in the National Guard, joining the Khartiia brigade, one of Ukraine's three most feted volunteer corps. His enlistment cemented his status as a figure who embodies how the literary sphere has adapted to life at war.
Mr Zhadan uses social media to spread his art and activism, posting poems, clips from gigs and musings about intelligence networks on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. He set up Radio Khartiia, a website hosting discussions on military life and Ukrainian culture. His interviewees have included Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's spy chief, and Ai Weiwei, a Chinese artist.
"Arabesques", a collection of Mr Zhadan's short stories published in English in February 2026 by Yale University Press, describes ordinary people enduring war and offers a portrait of Kharkiv. The central theme is the fragility of intimacy and the struggle to protect it during wartime. Mr Zhadan does not describe any fighting, but the war permeates his prose.
Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.