On Sept. 11 an important cultural event took place in Kyiv: the awarding of the Vasyl Stus Prize. The prize was first created in 1989 by the Ukrainian Association of the Independent Creative Intellectuals, which was headed at the time by Yevhen Sverstiuk (1928-2014). Today, the organizers of the award are the Ukrainian PEN, the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, and the publishing house “Dukh i Litera.” The journalist Vadym Karpiak acted as master of ceremonies. He noted: “Times have changed, but Ukraine’s enemy, Russia, is still the same one Stus fought against.”
The historical context of the prize’s founding
In 1989 the Ukrainian poet, dissident and long-time prisoner in Soviet camps Vasyl Stus was reburied. That event recalled a previous one. After his death in 1861 the body of Taras Shevchenko was also returned from St. Petersburg to Ukraine to be buried in his native land near Kaniv in the Cherkaska oblast.
Stus died in unclear circumstances in the special regime camp Perm 389/36-1 during the night of Sept. 3-4, 1985. Soviet regulations did not allow the body of a prisoner to be returned to the family after death. It was to be buried in the camp cemetery, at least until the completion of the prison sentence. Stus’ term in the camp was to end in 1990, and after that he was to serve another five years of exile.
The Soviet Union’s approaching collapse witnessed an upending of procedures in various sectors of society, including in the punitive system, where orders were often no longer being followed. In 1989 Stus’ family and friends were able, after great efforts, to organize a reburial. Along with Stus’ body, the remains of two other Ukrainian dissidents were returned: Oleksa Tykhy (1927-1984) and Yuri Lytvyn (1934-1984).
On Nov. 19, 1989, Kyiv said goodbye to its heroes in a mass demonstration. The streets of the city center were full and the administration did not dare remove the yellow-and-blue flags in the crowd. The reburial moved all nationally aware Ukrainians and inspired society’s continuing struggle for rights and its opposition to the regime. The event allowed witnesses to honor the memory of the dissidents. It also served to strengthen their faith in the coming of a time when justice would prevail.
This mood, more than likely, helped initiate the Vasyl Stus Prize, which has been awarded annually to contemporary figures (writers, artists, directors, musicians, and cultural organizers), regardless of their place of residence, for special contributions to Ukrainian culture.
The 2025 award ceremony
This year the award went to Timothy Snyder, the American historian, writer, public intellectual, specialist in Eastern European history, and in particular in the history of Ukraine, Poland and Russia. Although he has received numerous awards, this is the first one he has received in Ukraine. Snyder has been a consistent ambassador for Ukraine in the world, both as a scholar and a civic intellectual. Since 2014, he has drawn the attention of the world community to Russia’s war against Ukraine, has called for helping Ukraine, and has personally raised funds for the country. In one of his interviews, he said, “To do nothing is also an act.” This recalls the words of the Polish poet Bruno Jasenski: “Fear the indifferent – they do not kill or betray, but betrayal and killing exist on earth only because of their silent consent.”
The laudation was delivered on behalf of the awards committee by Olya Hnatiuk, a literary critic and a Professor at the University of Warsaw. She has known Professor Snyder for over a quarter of a century and mentioned that at the time she met him he was working on a book that was to be entitled “Brotherlands,” which was to be about choosing one’s identity. The book never appeared. In its place Snyder wrote Bloodlands (2018), which became a must read not only for historians but for the wider public. “It is hard to say whether the path from ‘Brotherlands’ to Bloodlands was chosen by the scholar or whether it chose him,” a literary critic said during a speech. “Timothy Snyder chose to become a historian of Eastern Europe, but having written about the bloodlands, he then had to write Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning.
Hnatiuk noted also that Snyder likes borderlands. The best example of this is his The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999. But it is not only a question of content: his books are on the borders of scholarly approaches and genres.
At the end of her speech, Olya Hnatiuk recalled several of Timothy Snyder’s most notable initiatives in support of Ukraine, calling his activity spiritus movens. These include the organization of the solidarity conference “Thinking with Ukraine” (May 2014), a speech in defense of the director Oleg Sentsov, who was imprisoned in 2014, active work within United24, and a series of lectures about Ukrainian history at Yale University in 2022.
The President of PEN, Volodymyr Yermolenko, in presenting the award spoke of the ties between the American historian and Ukrainian dissidents. The dissidents affirmed insisted that values and truth exist, and that individuals reach for them in moments when they stand before the abyss. This idea also resonates in Snyder’s book On Freedom (2024).
Timothy Snyder spoke in Ukrainian:
“The most important thing for me is whom the prize is named after with whom it is a prize: with people from whom I learn, whose books I have read, who edited my books, and with whom I am conducting a constant conversation.
The question ‘Where?’ is important. We are in Kyiv. For me, receiving a prize in Kyiv is an irony. Everything I do has been thanks to Ukraine an Ukrainians.
Vasyl Stus might have lived on. He is the age of my father, who still lives. I owe a great deal to Ukrainian dissidents, but the opposite is not true. I feel a bit awkward. I would like to express my thankfulness to Ukrainians.
The next question is ‘When?’ The prize is being awarded during wartime.
I know a lot of Ukrainians who can write about the war in prose and poetry. I know these people personally. I cannot speak about myself. I can speak about others.
The question ‘When?’ is also about another time. If I have been awarded the Stus prize, then I am part of a tradition, and this is not only a question of history, but also of the future. I view the prize as a responsibility and duty. I am grateful that I have been attached to a tradition and I feel responsible for continuing that tradition. This is an honor for me.”
The recipient of the award received a statuette created by the designer Dmytro Pokrason and the sculptor Stanislav Kadochnykov, and also a gift from the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School.
The award program always includes a performance. On this occasion it consisted of readings from Stus’ works by the poet Kateryna Kalytko. These were accompanied by musical improvisations by the president of PEN Volodymyr Yermolenko.