‘I don’t like the idea of hope’: An interview with Iya Kiva - Cherwell

Iya Kiva is an award-winning Ukrainian poet, originally from Donetsk. Since 2014, when war first came to her region, she has lived in displacement.

‘I don’t like the idea of hope’: An interview with Iya Kiva Culture Books Image credit: Leleka bila, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. By Seán Timon 16th February 2026 Iya Kiva is an award-winning Ukrainian poet, originally from Donetsk. Since 2014, when war first came to her region, she has lived in displacement. When I speak to Iya, she is in Lviv, where funeral processions for soldiers pass daily and the wounded walk the streets. Iya’s poetry explores her reality: her home, the texture of life under siege, the work of language in wartime. Cherwell : Please give us a picture of your daily

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