Frankfurt Book Fair and The Other Rooster House Events in Germany

On October 18th, I will be talking about Ukraine, its complicated place and my book, The Rooster House, during the Frankfurt Book Fair 2023, the largest book fair in the world.

Ukrainian Collective Stand/ Hall:4.1. Stand: B

16:00-17:00
The Rooster House: My Ukrainian Family Story
Victoria Belim (Writer, journalist, translator, and fragrance specialist). Moderator: Kyrylo Beskorovainyi (Co-founder of Kunsht).

Ukrainian Book Institute, Goethe-Institut, U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt

In 2014, the landmarks of Victoria Belim’s personal geography were plunged into tumult at the hands of Russia. Her hometown, Kyiv, was gripped by protests and violence. Crimea, where she’d once been sent to school to avoid radiation from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, was invaded. Kharkiv, where her grandmother Valentina studied economics and fell in love; Donetsk, where her father once worked; and Mariupol, where she and her mother bought a cherry tree for Valentina’s garden, all became battlegrounds. Victoria, by then a naturalized American citizen then living in Brussels, felt she had to go back. She had to spend time with her aging grandmother and her cousin Dmytro. She had to unravel a family mystery spanning several generations. And she needed to understand how her country’s tragic history of communist revolution, civil war, famine, world war, totalitarianism, and fraught independence had changed the course of their lives. A young woman’s quest to uncover her family’s difficult past reveals broader truths about the present conflict. Victoria Belim’s memoir is a personal history of her family’s turbulent past and a celebration of Ukrainian identity.

The German translation was published as “Rote Sirenen. Die Geschichte meiner ukrainischen Familie“ with Aufbau Verlag.

Also on Thursday, October 19, at 7 p.m, I will be at Fotografie Forum Frankfurt talking about Ukraine, my family story and Ukraine’s past with Jonas Driedger. The event will be in English. I hope that my readers living in Frankfurt would be able to join.

Reading and Conversation with the author Victoria Belim
Moderated by Jonas Driedger (PRIF)
Thursday, October 19, 7 p.m.
Fotografie Forum Frankfurt
Braubachstr. 30-32
60311 Frankfurt

The trip to Frankfurt is part of my larger book tour in Germany, during which I will be visiting Berlin and Leipzig. I will post more details close to the dates.