Overview

A graphic non-fiction account of two lives during the war in Ukraine- one Ukrainian, one Russian, by the internationally bestselling author of Heimat Immediately following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nora Krug connected with two anonymous subjects - 'K.', a Ukrainian journalist, and 'D.', a Russian artist - and began what would become a year of correspondence. Deeply moved by the rawness of their responses, she felt that through the personal accounts of these individuals who, directly and indirectly, experienced the war firsthand, she might be able to communicate something of the war and its human impact. Over the course of the next twelve months she communicated with each of them individually via phone chat, condensing their sometimes fluid, sometimes fragmentary answers into a consistent narrative and then created illustrations to go with each entry. The personal accounts contained in this book chronicle the first year of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in an intimate, epistolary format. Diaries of War explores the personal, the political, conflict, family and daily life under war with immense skill, compassion and moving thoughtfulness. Through these two individuals we see the granular effects of war on two lives, but they are emblematic of millions. Diaries of War is a harrowing record of a heart-wrenching historical event that has devastated the world and continues to alter countless lives.

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9780241642023

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Reviews

Diaries of War is a magnificent feat of witness. Nora Krug’s illustrated weekly interviews with a Ukrainian journalist and a Russian artist are so much more raw and intimate than a conventional news account, conveying the texture of daily life in wartime as well as the smaller tragedies that often don’t make the headlines. Instead of watching from a serene distance, you’re engaging with K. and D. Your guard is down. The anguish and shock has gotten in. Read this remarkable book and grant them that act of solidarity -- Alison Bechdel This book will definitely make you think. The geography of Russian aggression is much wider than you might at first imagine. Russian aggression is not only bombs, rockets and millions of refugees. It is also a boomerang that hits the aggressor country itself in the most unexpected way. Nora Krug’s dual visualtextual narrative can emotionally drain the reader, but the reader is unlikely to ever forget this book -- Andrey Kurkov As fascist imperialism - with Vladimir Putin as its rotting figurehead - commands attention on the world stage, those living underfoot must survive. Here are the personal accounts of two such survivors, living on either side of the Russo-Ukrainian War, illustrated with poetic grace by Nora Krug. A vital and empathetic document of human experience in terrible times -- Jason Lutes Nora Krug leads us through the first dark year of the war, in search for the roots of violence. Her collage of two unusual and contrasting diaries - one Ukrainian and one Russian - that are presented in parallel and combined with her intrinsic minimalist illustrations, creates a document that enlightens and shocks in equal measure -- Katja Petrowskaja Nora Krug does an extraordinary work combining painful and complex storytelling with an unusual grace and elegance. She manages to involve us in looking at history from an intimate and very human point of view. There is tact, decency and wonder in her books -- Igort If we did not know it before, Covid-19 has taught us that headlines and op-eds are insufficient to convey the grinding reality of an ongoing traumatic event. While our mass media engages in a sustained effort to forget, Nora Krug here reminds us. Illustrated by Krug’s gem-like miniatures, these dual accounts from Ukraine and Russia, rooted on either side of that deadly border, each express their own sustained senses of horror and anxiety during the first year of Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine. Russian artist D’s total alienation from the shocking acts of his own government will resonate with Americans for whom the Trump administration was only the most recent and egregious example of same. And under any President, we should seek voices like that of Ukrainian journalist K — testimony of those who have suffered under our own government’s consistently violent foreign policy. May this book be a model for many others to follow -- Bill Kartalopoulos Growing up as a Jew in Nazi-occupied Hungary, being a victim of war was a fact of life. Diaries of War touches me very personally -- Miriam Katin

Diaries of War is a magnificent feat of witness. Nora Krug’s illustrated weekly interviews with a Ukrainian journalist and a Russian artist are so much more raw and intimate than a conventional news account, conveying the texture of daily life in wartime as well as the smaller tragedies that often don’t make the headlines. Instead of watching from a serene distance, you’re engaging with K. and D. Your guard is down. The anguish and shock has gotten in. Read this remarkable book and grant them that act of solidarity -- Alison Bechdel This book will definitely make you think. The geography of Russian aggression is much wider than you might at first imagine. Russian aggression is not only bombs, rockets and millions of refugees. It is also a boomerang that hits the aggressor country itself in the most unexpected way. Nora Krug’s dual visualtextual narrative can emotionally drain the reader, but the reader is unlikely to ever forget this book -- Andrey Kurkov As fascist imperialism - with Vladimir Putin as its rotting figurehead - commands attention on the world stage, those living underfoot must survive. Here are the personal accounts of two such survivors, living on either side of the Russo-Ukrainian War, illustrated with poetic grace by Nora Krug. A vital and empathetic document of human experience in terrible times -- Jason Lutes Nora Krug leads us through the first dark year of the war, in search for the roots of violence. Her collage of two unusual and contrasting diaries - one Ukrainian and one Russian - that are presented in parallel and combined with her intrinsic minimalist illustrations, creates a document that enlightens and shocks in equal measure -- Katja Petrowskaja

Author Information

Nora Krug is a German-American author, illustrator and associate professor in the Illustration Program at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. She is the author of the bestselling Heimat- A German Family Album, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the illustrator of the graphic edition of Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny. She was named Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year and 2019 Book Illustration Prize Winner by the Victoria and Albert Museum.

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