Events

Holodomor Stories: Recent Reads For Schools – Kat Karpenko

𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀

The Holodomor Research and Education Consortium presents a free webinar series of dynamic talks with authors of primary, middle-grade and young adult fiction featuring their recently published novels relating to the Holodomor. The series will run from Fall of 2022 into Fall of 2023 to commemorate the 90th anniversary year of the Holodomor.

Webinars will be introduced by HREC Director of Education Valentina Kuryliw and hosted by Mateusz Świetlicki, who holds a Ph.D. in literary studies and has taught at the University of Wrocław and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Guest Speaker – Kat Karpenko

Author Kat Karpenko talks about her novel, The Photograph. Karpenko was born to Ukrainian parents in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She spent most of her life in Nova Scotia working at Dalhousie University’s Office of External Affairs. Kat also taught the art of writing pysanky, traditional Ukrainian easter eggs. Since retiring, she spends winters in Mazatlán, Mexico pursuing her writing career. Having previously worked in technical writing, journalism, and short stories, she has resumed creative writing and has published two novels of historical fiction: Emma’s Ghost, inspired by her love of Nova Scotia and its history, and The Photograph, a tribute to her paternal grandparents who left Ukraine in 1928.

The Photograph

Ukraine 1928: Stalin has risen to power and started to implement plans that will change the country forever. Inspired by a family photo, The Photograph centers on a farewell party and a family divided. There are those who will stay, and those who will leave. What happens to those who remain is written in the pages of history as the Holodomor, which was orchestrated by Stalin and was responsible for the loss of millions of lives. The Holodomor was one of the worst genocides in global history. In this historically accurate novel, the reader will see a family facing events on the ground level. Some members saw the impending doom, others were unprepared, undecided, or unmovable for too long. Experiencing the lives of victims and survivors during these dramatic times goes beyond the history books.