Books at the Institute

Books at the Institute is pleased to present a special evening with Artem Chapeye, Ukrainian writer, translater, reporter, traveler, and soldier, as he discusses his books, The Ukraine and Ordinary People Don’t Carry Machine Guns.

Monday, October 27, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.
2 East 79th Street  New York, NY 10075

Book signing and light reception to follow.

General admission: $20 / UIA Friends: $15 / UIA Members: $10

Artem Chapeye’s life and work embody the moral and existential challenges facing Ukraine today. Once a committed pacifist, he volunteered to serve in the Ukrainian armed forces after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion — a transformation that has made him one of the most potent symbols of Ukraine’s resistance. As a well-known writer who put down his pen to take up arms, Chapeye’s story speaks to the courage, conflict, and conviction that define Ukraine’s struggle for sovereignty and free will.

For more than fifteen years, Chapeye has been one of Ukraine’s keenest chroniclers, documenting the nation’s social and political complexities through nine books that explore migration, class struggle, and the contradictions of modern life. His travel narratives and fiction, including Dyvni Lyudy (Strange People), written entirely in surzhyk — a hybrid of Ukrainian and Russian — give voice to ordinary and marginalized Ukrainians, revealing the nation’s layered identity beyond stereotypes.

A lifelong anti-imperialist and leftist, Chapeye has participated in major protest movements, co-founded the civic group “Save Old Kyiv,” and translated the works of thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi and Edward Said into Ukrainian. Even in wartime, he continues to speak internationally — challenging Western narratives and calling for global solidarity. Through his words and actions, Chapeye stands as both witness and participant in Ukraine’s ongoing fight to define itself — culturally, morally, and politically — in the face of brutal aggression.

The Ukraine is a collection of 26 stories — fictional and creative nonfiction — written between 2010 and 2018 and translated by Zenia Tompkins in 2024. Blending reportage and imagination, Chapeye captures the essence of Ukraine through vivid portraits of ordinary people — a tax clerk, a former hoodlum, an old woman selling potatoes — revealing both the country’s tenderness and contradictions. The title story critiques the outsider’s use of “the,” exposing superficial foreign views, while the collection as a whole offers a deeply human, sensory portrait of everyday life. A new preface, written from the front lines in 2024, underscores its renewed urgency and authenticity.

Ordinary People Don’t Carry Machine Guns is Artem Chapeye’s fiery memoir of his transformation from pacifist writer and father into a soldier defending Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion. Mixing together personal reflection with literary and historical insight, Chapeye confronts the psychological toll of war — its nightmares, moral ambiguities, and redefined sense of humanity. Through three interconnected parts, he examines how conflict reshapes both the self and society, forcing ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances. This book captures the solidarity and guilt of a nation at war while questioning how one can remain a writer, a parent, and a moral being amid violence and loss.

What others are saying about The Ukraine and Ordinary People Don’t Carry Machine Guns:

“[A] fierce, kaleidoscopic blend of short stories and nonfiction … By scrutinizing Ukraine’s foibles alongside its strengths, Mr. Chapeye reveals why these proud, defiant people captured the world’s attention [three] years ago, and why they deserve continued support.” — Matt Gallagher, The Wall Street Journal

“Artem Chapeye shares with us a brilliant screenshot of Ukrainian life. This prose deserves all our attention.” — Andrey Kurkov, author of Grey Bees and Jimi Hendrix Lives in Lviv

 “People in Ukraine dream about peace. But peace does not come when the country which was invaded stops fighting. That is not peace; that’s occupation. Occupation is another form of war. Russian occupation means enforced disappearances, torture, rapes, denial of your identity, forcible adoption of your children, filtration camps, and mass graves. Ordinary people don’t carry machine guns. But if they stop fighting, they will cease to exist.” —  Oleksandra Matviichuk, Ukrainian human rights lawyer

Artem Chapeye was born and raised in the small Western Ukrainian city of Kolomyia and has spent much of the last twenty years living in Kyiv. He has authored two novels and four books of creative nonfiction, and is a co-author of a book of war reportage. A four-time finalist of the BBC Book of the Year Award, his collection The Ukraine was one of three finalists in the award’s new nonfiction category in 2018. Artem is an avid traveler who has spent approximately two years living, working, and traveling in the U.S. and Central America — an experience that has greatly informed his writing. His work has been translated into seven languages, and has appeared in English in the Best European Fiction anthology and in publications such as Refugees Worldwide in translation by Marian Schwartz. Artem is a past recipient of the Central European Initiative Fellowship for Writers in Residence (Slovenia) and the Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators (Austria), as well as a finalist of the Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism.

Artem Chapeye’s books have been reviewed in The Guardian, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Washington Post, and featured in BookBrowse.com, Foreword Reviews and The New Yorker.

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To have a copy of the books signed, The Ukraine ($18.95) and Ordinary People Don’t Carry Machine Guns ($17.95) will be available for purchase at the Ukrainian Institute of America the evening of the event.

By purchasing a book from the UIA, you are supporting its continued cultural and educational programming and the further enjoyment of its unique events by our friends and community along New York’s Museum Mile.

For further information: Please contact the Ukrainian Institute of America at (212) 288-8660 or mail@ukrainianinstitute.org.

Author photo by courtesy Artem Chapeye. All rights reserved.

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Title: The Ukraine
Author: Artem Chapeye
Publisher: Seven Stories Press (January 30, 2024)
Softcover: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 1644212951
ISBN-13: 978-1644212950
Item Weight: 10 ounces
Dimensions: 5.47 x 0.7 x 8.21 inches

Title: Ordinary People Don’t Carry Machine Guns
Author: Artem Chapeye
Publisher: Seven Stories Press (April 29, 2025)
Softcover: 128 pages
ISBN-10: 978-1644214596
ISBN-13: 978-1644214596
Item Weight: 4.8 ounces
Dimensions: 5.46 x 0.36 x 8.23 inches