A 60-minute discussion with writer Sofija Andruchovyč followed by an immersive workshop that works with the Narrative 4 methodology focused on building empathy through story sharing and images from current exhibitions.

School groups have a unique opportunity to participate in discussions with selected Czech and foreign writers who will share how their own lives find echo in their work. The conversation with the writer will be followed by an educational workshop inspired by the methodology of the global project Narrative 4 - developing empathy through story exchange. Storytelling, as Narrative 4 and DOX’s educational programmes work with it, allows us to experience the sharing of stories with another person in a way that seems simple at first glance – listen and retell. And there is power in simplicity. Colum McCann, world-renowned Irish writer and founder of Narrative 4, has named this concept “radical empathy”. 

Participants are invited to share their own authentic stories (no more than five minutes long) on the topic of “light and darkness”. And because the story is meant to be shared, each participant can decide whether to choose a sad, happy, serious, or light-hearted story. Participants will prepare their stories in advance. 

The discussion will be hosted by Marie Iljašenko. 

Sofia Andrukhovych ranks among the most distinctive Ukrainian writers today. Her prose combines strong narrative with historical reflection and a female perspective. She earned a great deal of attention for her novel Felix Austria (2025), which won the award for BBC Ukraine Book of the Year and was adapted into a film under the title Devoted (Viddana, 2020). In her sprawling novel Amadoka (2020) she explores, with extraordinary sensitivity, the themes of memory, identity, and the traumas of the twentieth century, including the Holocaust, Stalinist terror, and the occupation of the Donbas. The book was widely acclaimed and won the 2024 International Hermann Hesse Prize, with the jury citing how the author “created a broad panorama of twentieth-century Ukraine in a formally rich and impressive way.” In her latest novel, Catananhe (Katananhe, 2024), which has not yet been published in English, Andrukhovych focuses on post-war Ukraine through the stories of the ordinary inhabitants of a block of flats in Kyiv. She is the daughter of renowned Ukrainian author Yuri Andrukhovych. She lives in Kyiv.