my book: 14 posts

A special announcement for my readers in Taipei. I will be participating in a discussion about Ukraine on Tuesday July 23rd. You can find the information below as well as via this link. Please stop by and say hello.

When the Russian-Ukrainian war broke out in 2022, the Taiwanese media constantly compared Russia to China and Taiwan to Ukraine, reflecting the fear of the war in Taiwan.

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In 2023, Faces published Victoria Belim’s family history “The Rooster House”, which was written by the author who grew up in Ukraine and moved to Chicago, USA at the age of 15. In this book, the author uses an autobiographical style, starting with the disputes among family members regarding different historical views and political positions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The author returns to Ukraine and, from the clues of his time with his grandmother, in the secret police unit “Rooster House”, archives and museums around the world, she pieced together the past of a family that was silenced during the socialist era in Ukraine, allowing the author to understand the authoritarian legacy that is still affecting the present from a more historical and profound perspective.
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In addition to viewing this war as a projection of Taiwan’s anxiety about being invaded, two years after the war began, can we have a deeper understanding of the impact and changes in the meaning of this war on Europe, on Ukraine, and on Victoria Bellim and her family? We invited Chi-Xin Liu, the author of “The Making of Truth” – who used to work with a team of reporters to record the “invisible” people and events in the Ukrainian war through first-hand interviews, and wrote “Ukraine’s Impossible War.” Through the conversation, we will explore everything that Ukraine is facing at the moment, how Taiwan can learn from it, and when totalitarian forces infiltrate the people, is there a possibility of reconnection after division.
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▍Lecture information To Register

Date｜7/23 (Tuesday) 19:30 – 21:00
Dialogue｜Victoria Belim (author of “The Rooster House”), Chi-Xin Liu (author of “The Making of Truth”, host of the podcast “Excuse Me”)

Location｜Xianliulu Store (1F, No.26, Lane 25, Sec.3, Chongqing N Rd, Taipei; 3 minutes walk from Exit 3 of MRT Daqiaotou Station)

Date: 2024.7.23 19:30 – 21:00

Ticket｜NT$150 (Line Pay, Cultural Coin)

Registration by appointment + on-site payment, the venue is limited to 35 people, and registration will be closed when the quota is full.

My book The Rooster House is available in Chinese (traditional characters), titled 公雞之家 and published by Faces. I will be in Taiwan in July for a few events, including a seminar about Ukraine. I will share more details soon. In the meantime, I wanted to ask my friends and readers about your Taiwan recommendations. I’ve been to Taipei and Hsinchu twice, but this time I will also take a week to explore more of the country. Any food recommendations are more than welcome too.

On this note, if you have any recommendations for books about Taiwan or by Taiwanese writers, I would be most grateful.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

I’m delighted to share that my book The Rooster House was selected among “The Best Books of 2023” by Waterstones. I’m grateful for this recognition and I thank all of my readers for your support.

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, I will be in Estonia and Denmark to speak about The Rooster House. It’s been such a pleasure to meet my readers on these travels, especially those who have been following Bois de Jasmin for years. Your support throughout my journey has been invaluable.

On this note, many thanks to everyone who gave me recommendations for Munich and Leipzig. I had very little free time in Munich, but your suggestions helped me plan efficiently and I managed to get a sense of the city, visit a couple of churches and Alte Pinakothek, which is one of the most impressive museums I’ve seen.

There have been many book news recently, but next week I will have another exciting announcement, so please stay tuned.

Tallinn, Estonia

30.10.23 17.00
Tallinna Viru Keskuse Rahva Raamat

Presentation of Victoria Belim’s book “The Rooster House”.
We are waiting for you on Monday, October 30 at 17:00 at the presentation of Victoria Belim’s book The Rooster House in Viru Keskus Rahva Raamata!

I will be in conversation with Annikky Lamp, the translator of my book and the author of a wonderful blog Life in a Cold Climate. Anniky wrote a thoughtful article about translating The Rooster House and her decision to take on this project: The Rooster House: A Deeply Personal Love Letter to Ukraine.

“The moving memoir tells the story of one family and the whole of Ukraine from the complicated history to the dangerous present. It tells a fascinating story of parents and children, loyal Bolsheviks and victims of communism, gardens and art, mysteries and long-kept secrets.”

You can find more details via https://www.facebook.com/events/773516434464677 and https://rahvaraamat.ee/event/206/et

Copenhagen, Denmark

I will participate in Bogforum in November. Bogforum is one of the largest book fairs in the region and an important event in Denmark. I will be on stage on Saturday, November 4^th at 15.20-16.05.

More details via https://program.bogforum.dk/aktivitet/ukraine-i-fokus-victoria-belim/

I will be in Germany from October 18th to 26th teaching a writing seminar and talking about Ukraine and my book The Rooster House. I will be visiting Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, and Leipzig. I hope that I can meet some of you during my visit.

October 18th, Frankfurt

Frankfurt Book Fair, 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.
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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.
Continue reading →