Last Saturday in a cozy, friendly atmosphere in the Center for Modern Reading "MARKO" of the Central City Library named after M.L. Kropyvnytskyi military documentarian Iryna Vovk presented her new edition "Loggers on the "Snags"".
Iryna Vovk has been recording the turning points in the history of Ukraine, the Russian-Ukrainian war for the past ten years. Her reports and podcasts were broadcast on television and radio. Later, she felt the need to share her pain with readers on the pages of books.
"Most of these were books that talked about our fallen soldiers. About memorialization. With the exception of "Donetsk Airport" and "Isolation". "Isolation" was about the stories of those who were in captivity - civilians and military. And "Donetsk Airport" is actually about the difficult events of Donetsk Airport. And all the rest of the books are about our fallen soldiers" the author recalls.
A few weeks ago, the ninth edition of Iryna Vovk's "Loggers on the "Snags"" was published. It is distinguished from the previous eight by its positive, life-affirming mood. The journalist collected the stories of the soldiers directly on the battle line. Sections of the front constantly changed from north to south.
"The main goal was to show non-media people. For example, we say a call sign and we immediately imagine who this person is. We know, we've seen him on TV. And here are those soldiers who do their work qualitatively, as soldiers. Servicemen and women. And few people know about them," the author emphasizes.
The book contains 30 stories and 38 heroes. Constant support for Iryna Vovk is provided by the Kharkiv publishing house "Folio", to which she expressed her immense gratitude during the presentation.
"The goal was to combine, you know, some funny stories where they laugh with black humor at amazing, incredible situations that civilians would not laugh at very much. But they somehow save themselves. Next to that are stories where your hair stands on end because you don't understand how this can happen in the 21st century. And from what situations they steered," - notes Iryna Vovk.
The hero of "Loggers on the "Snags"" is our compatriot Volodymyr Borysov with the call sign "BMW" who is in the war from the very beginning.
"On February 25, seven buses from Mykolaiv of reservists of the 36th brigade went to Mariupol. And it was off and running. Then we were handed over to the 53rd brigade, we reinforced it. Then we were completely transferred from the marines to the 53rd motorized infantry and went and went. It's just that I changed brigades a bit, and I was changed in brigades. Now I am in the 151st one," says the man.
Numerous admirers of her talent from Mykolaiv came to meet Iryna Vovk, as well as guests from neighboring Kherson.
"It was interesting to watch the live facial expressions of the author. The versatility of the language is surprisingly impressive. I am very interested to read after the meeting. How she writes, how she sounds. And all the more, the hero, who came out of the book, is sitting next to me. This is such a living library, you can ask a question and hear the answer," Mykolaiv police officer Anna Hitko shared her impressions.
"It is very nice that it was our countryman, from the Mykolaiv region. And his vision of how our people from Mykolaiv join the defense of our Ukraine from the first days. I really liked it. It was very important for me today, as a scout librarian, to bring the children. Our Mykolaiv children. For me, it is extremely valuable for children to hear firsthand. And from the military, our protector, what a price is given for that we can be scouts, live, study," says Hanna Chmeliova, a scout librarian, communicator of the Mykolaiv Scout branch - the National Scout Organization of Ukraine.
Half of Iryna Vovk's family is at war. Therefore, until the Victory, she will continue to write and tell the stories of Ukrainian heroes to the public. The author already has in mind a continuation of the book "Loggers on the "Snags"".
