KryvBas Literary Festival Brings Ukrainian Culture, Community, and Feminist Voices to Kryvyi Rih

In early November, the KryvBas Literary Festival took place in Kryvyi Rih with support from PKU & the Women’s Opportunity Fund of Ukraine (WOF-UA). Despite ongoing electricity shortages and wartime conditions, the festival gathered more than two dozen contemporary Ukrainian writers, artists, and cultural leaders.

“We wanted to create a space where — even under shelling and during blackouts — people could feel supported, inspired, and simply rest. This is about the power of culture,” said Kateryna Levchenko, festival organizer and founder of the Kryvyi Rih Center for Contemporary Culture.

In addition to featuring PKU’s Ukrainian Haggadah ‘For Our Freedom’ and their Ukrainian-Jewish calendars, a featured guest was writer Maya Tulchynska. Invited by PKU & WOF-UA, Maya traveled from Kyiv to present her book — a collection of sharp, humorous feminist essays exploring misogyny, menstruation, imposter syndrome, inequality, and everyday life with honesty and wit.

“Our team is proud to organize and support cultural initiatives that elevate our hometown,” said Vlada Nedak, founder of WOF-UA. “Promoting reading, continuous learning, and self-love is deeply important to us.”