Press Release

on participation of the American writer, Elliot Ackerman,

in the “Book Arsenal – 2017”.

            On Saturday, May 20, 2017, a debate titled “War is deceit”: A Contemporary War Novel will take place within the International program of the “Book Arsenal” Festival. An American writer, Elliot Ackerman, will participate in this debate. The subject of the debate is the Ukrainian translation of the Ackerman’s novel “Green on Blue” freshly published by the Duliby Publishing House (translated by Lukiya Zurnadzhy). This novel is a bestseller according to the New York Times. The publication project was funded by The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

Elliot Ackerman (born 1980) is a former U.S. Marine; he served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He currently works as a journalist writing on the Syrian Civil War. Ackerman is a decorated veteran, having earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star for Valor, and Purple Heart.

The events of the novel “Green on Blue” take place during the war in Afghanistan in 2001–2014. This is a truthful, deep, and harsh piece of writing on the true nature of a contemporary war. The author has an intimate knowledge of the war in Afghanistan. He spent eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps as both an infantry and special operations officer, and served several tours of duty in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. As a Marine Corps Special Operations Tam Leader, he operated as the primary combat advisor to a 700-man Afghan commando battalion responsible for capture operations against senior Taliban leadership.

In the epigraph to his novel, the author sites Prophet Muhammad who once said “War is deceit”. The novel, therefore, makes the reader ponder over the thin line that separates war stratagems from betrayal and treachery; it keeps the reader busy by questioning where fighting for your own land ends and business begins.

Other participants of the debate “War is deceit”: A Contemporary War Novel are: Serhii Synhaivskyi, a writer and translator, the author of the novel “The Road to Asmara” portraying the fate of a Soviet Army military translator during the war in Ethiopia; Volodymyr Dzhydzhora, a diplomat and translator from Farsi and English, the consultant of the Ukrainian translation of “Green on Blue” who served a diplomatic mission in Afghanistan at the time described in the Elliot Ackerman’s novel. The debate moderator is Maryna Hrymych, the author of the Preface to the translated “Green on Blue”.

The debate will center on the question of what a contemporary war novel should be like in order to satisfy the aesthetic and cognitive needs of the reader who is both educated and demanding.

The literary debate will take place on Saturday, May 20, 2017, on the stage of “Café Europe”, Kyiv, at 6 pm. The debate organizer is the Duliby Publishing House.