A book is a person's best friend, because we not only gain knowledge from it, but also spend long autumn evenings with it and travel in time and space with its characters. This is a story about a woman who creates her own books and gives everyone her inner light. Disability is not an obstacle for her, but only a feature that does not affect her creative potential. This woman believes in herself and never stops in the face of difficulties. She does not see colors, but she has created a whole book universe that attracts readers. She does not know what fear is and shows everyone that nothing is impossible in this world. She appreciates every moment and never lets a second of life pass her by.

Maria Druzhko is a blind poet and novelist from the city of Kamianske, Dnipro Oblast, a muse for young authors and an example of true resilience and courage of Ukrainian women. Maria has been blind since she was 5. She started writing poetry at an early age, and the writer herself will tell us about her future path in literature and in life:

- Like most beginners, I wrote about nature, about my surroundings. There was nothing extraordinary about it. The only thing is that while working with young authors, I analyzed my early works and realized that they were characterized by a large number of similes and metaphors. I am very grateful to fate that I was noticed by the writer Mykola Mykolaienko, who is unfortunately no longer among us. He worked a lot with creative youth in the Dnipro region. When we met, I was only 14 years old. It happened at one of the literary contests where my mother and I submitted our works, but I didn't win any awards. I'm the kind of person who needs to know and understand everything to the end, so that everything is put on the shelves, and we went to the jury, where we met Mykola Mykolaienko. We asked him why it happened that I did not receive any award. He talked to me and said: "If you want to achieve a good result, send me your poems and I will help you improve them." It was the 90s, and there was no Internet or computers in every home. I learned to type on a typewriter, as writers are often portrayed in old movies. I would type my poems and my mother and I would send them by mail to Mr. Mykolaienko. By the way, I did not study at a school for blind children, but at home. I believe that I was more fortunate in this regard, because at an early age I received more than a child who studies in a specialized school. To be honest, it was very difficult for me. I even asked my mom sometimes: "Send me to school. I want to be like everyone else!" But now I realize that if I had been at school with the blind, I would not have been able to get into the creative circle, as it was: writers, musicians, artists... As long as I can remember, I have been constantly in a creative environment. I think this led to this result, especially the work of professional writers with me. I call Mykola Mykolayenko my godfather in literature.

- How did your family react to the fact that you cannot see?

- As far as I know, three generations ago there were no blind people in our family. My loss of sight was a shock for the whole family. The cause of the loss was retinoblastoma [Retinoblastoma is a cancer of the eye. Most often it develops in young children. This disease is rare in children over the age of 5]. At the age of five, I had both eyes amputated because there was no other option, and at 35, I was diagnosed with sarcoma [sarcoma combines a number of diseases characterized by the development of malignant tumors that grow rapidly in the body]. When I took genetics with one of my professors, it turned out that the sarcoma was caused by retinoblastoma from childhood. It was an interesting connection, so it was very difficult for my family then and now. I think that one of the reasons why my mother did not send me to a school for the blind was because she is a teacher. There are a lot of teachers in my family, some taught me language, some biology... I was at school on a home-based basis.

- While studying at school, did you communicate with your peers?

- I have cousins with whom we are still in good communication. When I got a little older, we went to school on holidays. I am grateful to my mother for not isolating me from the blind. Once a year we went to Kyiv to the Special School No. 5 named after Yakov Batyuk. We took textbooks in Braille, and my mother asked that I be allowed to go to class with the children. I also had friends at the Kyiv school, and I wrote them letters in Braille. When I graduated from school, my mother took me to the UTOS enterprise. She introduced me to blind adults. I worked at the enterprise for some time. I remember my first salary. It was very cool. My mom always said: "Everyone in our family is strong, and you are strong! If you need help, ask for it, if you can do something on your own, then do it on your own." She always brought me up this way and I did not feel like an outsider in society. God also gives me good people who always support me. Mostly, I live among sighted people, I have only a few blind friends. I even caught myself thinking like a sighted person sometimes. When we organize something somewhere, I always think about who will meet a blind person, who will guide them, how to make them feel comfortable...

- The opportunity to work at an enterprise is great. Have you ever thought about continuing your education?

- I worked and studied at the part-time department of the Faculty of Philology at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University. So I have a degree in Ukrainian and English. I entered the philology department because I had a dream to become a writer and write a novel. I analyzed the biographies of my favorite writers Oles Honchar, Pavlo Zahrebelnyi, Vasyl Stus, and Lina Kostenko and noticed that they all had a philology degree. I thought that if I entered the philology department, that was it - I was already a writer. When I found out at the first lecture that we would be studying, for example, economics and that this subject was an addition to the diploma, I was very surprised. I sat there and thought: "Me and numbers". Although I graduated from school well, even received a gold medal, I never dreamed of understanding economics. Until my third year, I didn't write any of my own essays because I didn't have enough time, but Mykola Mykolaienko always supported me and told me that I did everything right. In my third year, at the age of 20, I was accepted into the National Union of Writers, and a very interesting thing happened. I come to lectures at the university, everyone finds out that I am a member of the NWU, they organize a meeting, and start studying me, analyzing my works, asking me how I do it, rather than teaching me what and how to write. On the one hand, it's cool and cool, but on the other hand, it was a bit of a shock, because I came for knowledge, and it turned out that I became an object for study. But I am very grateful to my specialized teachers, philologists: by the fifth year of my studies, they had trained me so well that thanks to this university education, I began to help my colleagues as an editor. Now my editorial work has grown into the Druzhko Publishing House. My friends and I decided to legalize it, because we were editing and helping to publish books anyway. In addition to the publishing house, we also have writing courses, so it's a whole literary universe in which I live.

- How difficult is it for you to help colleagues who do not have visual impairments?

- The Lord did not give me physical sight, but blind people perceive the world a little differently. For example, when a person enters an office and starts talking, I already know how to deal with them, while sighted people look at their appearance first. Very often, in my opinion, people hide their inner selves behind their outward appearance. Blind people immediately see what is inside, both good and not so good. I communicate with different people, and there are those who like to play to the public, they are often said to be very cool, or vice versa, with a difficult character, and I can communicate with them normally. After all, this person knows very well that they don't need to put on a mask with me because it won't help in relationships or in literature. Many people don't even know that I can't see; thanks to online, we work in Zoom and Telegram. Some people guess when we start getting to know each other, but there are those who still don't understand. In addition to literature, I also have my own online store, WiwArt. As long as my disability is not relevant to specific situations, I don't emphasize it because it doesn't play any role. When people already know that I cannot see, their attitude towards me does not change. Sometimes, on the contrary, I have to remind them of this. Moreover, even doctors forget it. I am being treated by a very good neurosurgeon-oncologist, Professor Andriy Sirko, who knows how to explain everything well. He usually shows his patients a model of a person and analyzes it in detail so that they understand their disease. Sometimes he forgets that I can't see, and when he remembers, he gives me the model and tells me what it looks like.

- Let's go back to literature. You had a dream of writing a novel. Now you have two of them to your credit. Tell us about your first novel, Sheila.
Why did you want to write about the war at the age of 25?

- I was lucky that the older writers did not perceive me, at least at that time, as a rival. When I joined the union, the youngest member was 45 or 50 years old. I felt like I was in a fairy tale with wolves and a little red riding hood. I started writing Sheila in 2004. When my older colleagues learned that I was writing about such a complex topic, Volodymyr Sirenko, a well-known dissident, said: "Why are you writing about the war? You weren't there and you don't know anything. You'll only embarrass yourself!" But Mykola Mykolaienko always supported my work. At that time, there were a lot of stories about the conflict in Iraq. I had no idea that the war would be in our country, and I was very surprised that the Western world had entered the Eastern world. These are completely different worlds, they are far from each other. I've always been interested in analyzing different situations on the edge, for example, now I'm writing a novel about what I'm going through myself - about cancer.

The novel The Hunt for the Tour also raises social issues that have usually been silent in Ukraine for a long time. Why did you choose Chornobyl?

- The distance between Sheila and The Hunt for the Rook is a little more than 10 years. "I finished Sheila in 2008, and for this novel I received the Oles Honchar Ukrainian-German Prize, in 2009 it was published in the Sicheslav magazine, and now I am publishing it on the Arkusha platform. Then for a long time I didn't write big prose, it seemed to me that I couldn't write better than Sheila. It took me quite a long time to get to The Hunt for the Tour. It was 2012 when I started thinking about what this novel would be about. I was not the same Maria I was in 2004. If you compare me in 2004, in 2012, with the present, I am more like Maria in 2012. Like then, today I want to write about Ukraine. In order to popularize Ukrainian literature in the world, our team at Druzhko Publishing House made the following decision: we do not publish Ukrainian translations of foreign authors' works on principle. We plan to translate the works of our writers into English and other languages to popularize our own. If before the full-scale invasion we were perceived as a bit strange people, I was called a Banderite, now it is very relevant. Today, we are all Banderites in a good way, because we finally realized that we are not strangers in this world, because Europe is still living a peaceful life thanks to us. I chose Chornobyl for two reasons. First, it is our business card in the world. When I talked to foreigners, they said: "Oh, Chornobyl!" Secondly, I wanted to show that Chornobyl did not kill us. I am convinced that Chornobyl is not just a disaster. It happened because the Soviet Union was chasing energy and did not care about Ukraine and Ukrainians at all. As one of the characters in the novel, the head of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Oleksandr Kniazhuk, says: "You understand that I cannot give you more energy until we expand our resources. Give us time. We will complete the power units and I will give you what you demand," but he was fired, as was always the case in the USSR, for his unwillingness to serve his country.

- Tell us about the VivArt art community. What inspired you to create it? How did a small library club transform into a huge art project?

- I think it happened because people need VivArt. Back in 2005, I was offered to work with creative youth when I graduated from university. The director of the central city library of my native Kamianske, Tetiana Herasiuta, created a literary circle at the youth department, where I began to share with young authors advice on where to start and how to work on their literary works in the future. We started inviting young people: schoolchildren and students. At first we met in the library once a month, then once every two weeks. After two or three years, it became not just fun, but a necessity for me and other "Vivartists" because I felt like a little girl in the writers' union alongside my colleagues. On the one hand, it was good, I could learn a lot from them, but on the other hand, in VivArt I could just sit down with a cup of tea, as we say, to christen a work. Previously, everyone used to bring their own work and read it out, but now they send it to an e-mail or in a telegram. Afterwards, we discuss and analyze each other's work together. I discuss my works on an equal footing with everyone else, because it's very important to me, because most of the members of our artistic community are my age. We have gradually developed, and the online format has allowed us to communicate with artists from different parts of Ukraine and the world. In the summer of 2022, Yevheniia Yavorska, one of the active members of VivArt, suggested organizing a volunteer project called VivArt Summer Camp 22. We launched an online community that people joined and recharged their creativity, because after the full-scale invasion began, many people stopped writing. We had 150 people join our camp. To be honest, we were not prepared for this, we thought that our friends or acquaintances would just come. For six weeks we worked online every day: we gave different creative tasks and discussed them. It was all free: some people dropped out, but there were about a hundred participants with whom we met regularly. Later, we started doing live broadcasts, where we communicated and shared with the participants basic concepts of professional literature, for example, that poetry may not have rhymes... People were delighted and asked us to organize more such training meetings. Then we founded the VivArt Literary Kitchen writing courses, which were already paid for. In 6 weeks, together with the course participants, we wrote and published the book VivArt Writing Intensive 22. Every month we hold thematic video parties on the @VivArt YouTube channel, where we read our works on a given topic. We also organize literary dinners once a month, where we meet interesting writers and talk about their work. I really like to communicate with people and interview them. Since 2019, I have been a member of the Kamianske branch of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.

- Tell us more about it. How did you become a member of the NUJU?

- There is still a problem in writer's circles: the press is more active in writing about various robberies and break-ins, because that's what most people read, but it's important that someone also write about events in cultural and literary life. I started doing this, and once journalists offered me to become a member of the Kamianske branch of the NUJU.

- Atmosphere of the Word is an audio project you organized for blind and visually impaired people. Why did you come up with the idea to create an audio collection rather than a Braille book?

- I never thought about it: I just published poems on social media and published printed books. one of my blind friends, Stanislav Chirchenko, suggested that I create an audio collection of poems. Stas explained to me that audiobooks are one thing, but poems are quite another, and it is important how they are read and arranged. I recited my poems, and Stanislav did the music. He created an extraordinary atmosphere of words, which is why we named our project that way. If it wasn't for Stas, there would be no Atmosphere of the Word. In addition, there is now an audio version of the novel The Hunt for the Rook. Today I understand that any book should be available in three versions: in print, in electronic and audio formats. Because of the war, the number of blind and visually impaired people in Ukraine is increasing. Since such people cannot read with their eyes, they start reading with their ears, so audiobooks are very relevant now. By the way, we print books in Braille as part of the social project "Knigolux". In my childhood, Braille books were different from modern ones. I often felt insulted that my peers were reading books that looked attractive with interesting covers, while I could only read brick-like tomes! When I started reading English-language braille magazines at university, I was very impressed by the fact that they looked like regular books, or modern books for the blind. I agreed to publish books in Braille on the condition that they look like regular books. Kharkiv writer Viktor Polyanetsky shared his idea to print books with a universal design with me. As part of the "Knigolux", books are published that include pictures for sighted and blind readers and a universal design, meaning that there is flat printed text on the left and Braille text on the right. From the outside, it looks very elite. Such books unite, because they are mostly literature for children and teenagers, which sighted and blind people can read together. "Knigolux helped me break many stereotypes. We have added an audio format to some books, so that you can follow the link to the book on YouTube by scanning the QR code. For blind readers, it is circled with a special frame that can be easily found. I also tried to do it and I succeeded. If I can do it, then other blind readers will be able to do it. They will be able to listen to the audio version of the book without any help.

- Ms. Maria, you told us that you underwent oncology treatment. How are you feeling now?

- If we talk about me as a cancer patient, I am currently undergoing treatment. This has been going on for five years. That's why Maria in 2018 and Maria today are different. Cancer has taught me a lot, because my values have changed, my priorities have changed. I began to appreciate life here and now, because we do not know what will happen to us tomorrow. I used to perceive this as a kind of philosophy, but today I live by it. Thank God that I woke up in the morning without any pain - it's a great happiness.

- Tell us about the social project "You Can't Be Afraid of Cancer". What influenced your decision to launch this literary contest?

- There was a period in my life when I couldn't even drink water. I had a tumor in my oral cavity - carcinoma [Carcinoma is a malignant process in which the cells of the body undergo transformation, change their structure and begin to multiply intensively. At the initial stage of development, a malignant tumor is a single entity, but with the progression of the disease, cancer cells spread throughout the body, which leads to metastases], which was treated with radiation. I was treated for three months and it was a terrible burn. In order to drink water or eat, I sprayed Lidocaine in my mouth and had literally 10 minutes to do everything. Once I wanted to cry, but quickly gave up because I was in so much pain. At that time, I came up with the idea for the Cancer Can't Be Afraid project. I asked myself: why did this happen to me? I'm a writer and the best thing I can do is talk, and here I've been silent for over 3 months. Thanks to digital technology, I corresponded with my friends. I was lying there thinking why God took away what was most important to me. Then I thought, maybe it happened because until the summer of 2020, I didn't talk about cancer, but hid it like most people, although I got my first sarcoma in 2018, which was fortunately removed. I made a decision: if I recover and God gives me back the ability to talk, I will talk about cancer and, first of all, about my experience with cancer treatment. I was looking for ways to talk about it and realized that the best way I could talk about cancer was through literature, so I organized the project "You Can't Be Afraid of Cancer." When we started this literary competition, it turned out that, roughly speaking, one in five people in my environment had faced cancer. I started receiving letters in the mail in which people wrote: "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about what hurts." In December 2022, I had a relapse of sarcoma. This is related to the war events, because many people had relapses due to stress. When I went to the oncology center for radiation this year, there were very long lines, and from time to time I brought the books published as a result of the Cancer Can't Be Afraid contest. Many people in the queues were just crying, because it's normal, they are worried. I am very outraged that there are no oncology psychologists in cancer centers. If I had not sought professional help from a psychologist I knew, 100% would not have recovered. Later, healthcare workers told me that after reading the Cancer Can't Be Afraid almanac, which contains poems, stories, fairy tales, and real stories of successful treatment, people stop crying, so this project should be continued, because cancer is not the end, but only a facet of life.

- She is a writer, publisher, volunteer and journalist. How do you find time for everything?

- I don't know. I just realized one thing: if I don't do any of these things, then some part of me will be lost. In fact, there is not enough time, but if the Lord gives opportunities to organize such projects, it means that he will find people with whom they can be implemented, because it is very difficult to do it alone.

- What problems do you face because of your disability?

- Due to cancer, it became a problem for me to move around on my own. Until 2018, I was able to walk with a white cane. But now there are times when I feel weak, it's hard for me to concentrate, and I'm afraid to be left somewhere in the middle of the city. One friend taught me to find the silver lining in any situation, because there are always a lot of minuses. In particular, being blind has its advantages: I'm easy to remember, and I'm more organized because I think about everything in advance. People often help if you explain your problem properly. In my opinion, blind people should constantly talk about their disability, because not all people know how to help us. It is also important to take care of your appearance: hair, nails, clothes, etc.

- What would you wish everyone who reads our interview?

- I wish I could always find something positive, because there is a way out of any situation, but whether we are ready to find it and accept it is another question. You can think for a long time about why everyone in my family is sighted, but I am blind, and it seems that life is lost. But if there is no way out through the door, then I will get out through the balcony. It's the same with cancer, I thought for a long time why did this happen to me? However, today I realize that God gave it to me to teach me to appreciate every moment. Sometimes I ask: "Lord, can I finally pass your exams and get a diploma for a happy and carefree life?" If we see only the negative, we simply will not find a drop of energy to wake up tomorrow.

Maria Druzhko is a person who does not give up in the face of challenges. She has turned her disability into a strength that helps her realize all her creative ideas. This woman's talent, faith and resilience are her keys to success and happiness. Her words are like pearls that the writer gives to her readers from the bottom of her heart.

Written by Tamila Koval.

"Unbreakable" is a series of articles about Ukrainian women and girls that motivate, delight and inspire!
This initiative is being implemented within the framework of the project "Promoting the rights of women and girls with disabilities by strengthening their participation and leadership in communities", implemented by the National Assembly of Persons with Disabilities of Ukraine with the support of UN Women Ukraine and the Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund.
About the United Nations Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF).

The Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) is the only global financing mechanism exclusively dedicated to supporting women’s participation in peace and security processes and humanitarian action. Governed by a diverse group of civil society, government, and UN representatives, WPHF is a multi-partner trust fund that mobilizes urgently needed funding for local, women-led organizations and works alongside women on the front lines to build lasting peace. Since 2016, WPHF has provided funding and strengthened the capacities of over 1,000 local women’s civil society organizations advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda and delivering humanitarian action in 41 crisis-affected countries.

This publication has been prepared with the financial support of the United Nations Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), which does not imply that the views and contents expressed herein are officially endorsed or recognized by the United Nations."

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Maria Druzhko: "If we only notice the negative things, we simply won't find a drop of energy in ourselves to wake up tomorrow"

A book is a person's best friend because we not only gain knowledge from a book, but we also spend long autumn evenings with it and travel in time and space with its characters. This is a story about a woman who creates her own books and gives her inner light to everyone. Disability is not an obstacle for her, but only a feature that does not affect her creative potential. This woman believes in herself and never stops in the face of difficulties. She does not see colors, but she has created a whole universe of books that attracts readers. She does not know what fear is and shows everyone that nothing is impossible in this world. She appreciates every moment and never lets a second of life be wasted.

Maria Druzhko is a blind poet and prose writer from Kamianske town of Dnipropetrovsk region, and she is a muse for young authors and an example of true resilience and courage among Ukrainian women. Maria has been blind since she was 5. She started writing poetry at an early age, and as for her path in life and literature after that, the writer will tell us about it herself:

• Like most beginners, I wrote about nature, about my surroundings. There was nothing extraordinary about it. The only thing is that while working with young authors, I analyzed my early works and realized that they featured a lot of comparisons and metaphors. I am very grateful to the fate that I was noticed by the writer Mykola Mykolaienko, who is unfortunately no longer among us. He worked a lot with creative youth in the Dnipro region. When we met, I was only 14 years old. It happened at one of the literary contests where my mother and I had submitted our works, but I didn't win any awards. I am the kind of person who needs to know and understand everything to the final detail, so that everything is sorted through. So, we came up to the jury members, where we met Mykola Mykolaienko. We asked him why it had so happened that I did not receive any award. He talked to me and said, "If you want to achieve a good result, send me your poems and I will help you improve them." It was the 1990s, and there wasn't the Internet or computers in every home. I learned to type on a typewriter, as they often portray writers in old movies. I would type my poems, and my mother and I sent them by mail to Mr. Mykolaienko. By the way, I didn't study at a school for blind children, but I studied at home. I believe that I was luckier in this sense, because at my early age I received more than a child who studied in a specialized school. To be honest, it was very difficult for me. I even asked my mom sometimes: "Send me to school. I want to be like everyone else!" But now I realize that if I had been at a school with the blind, I wouldn't have been able to get into the creative circles - the way it was available for me: writers, musicians, artists... As long as I can remember, I have been constantly in a creative environment. I think this has led to the present results, especially because professional writers have worked with me. I call Mykola Mykolaienko as my godfather in literature.
• How did your relatives react to the fact that you cannot see?
• As far as I know, there were no blind people for three generations in our family. My loss of sight was a shock to the whole family. The loss was caused by retinoblastoma [Retinoblastoma is a cancer of the eye. It most often develops in younger children. This disease is rare in children over 5 years old old]. At the age of five, I had both my eyes amputated because there was no other option, and at 35, I was diagnosed with sarcoma [Sarcoma includes a number of diseases characterized by the development of malignant tumors that grow rapidly in the body]. When one of the professors was taking my genetic analysis, it was found that my sarcoma was caused by retinoblastoma since childhood. This is an interesting connection, so it was very difficult for my family then and it is difficult now. I think one of the reasons why my mother didn't send me to a school for the blind was because she is a teacher. There are a lot of teachers in my family; some taught me language and some biology... I had home-based schooling.

- While you were studying at school, did you communicate with your peers?

• I have cousins with whom we still communicate very well. When I grew a little older, we would go to the school on holidays. I am grateful to my mother for not isolating me from the blind. Once a year we went to Yakiv Batiuk Kyiv Special School No. 5. We took textbooks in Braille print, and my mother would ask them to allow me to be in the classroom with other children. I also had girlfriends in Kyiv school, and I wrote letters to them in Braille. When I finished school, my mother took me to an enterprise at the UTOS [Ukrainian Society of the Blind]. She introduced me to blind adults. I worked at the enterprise for some time. I remember my first salary. It was very cool. My mother always said, "Everyone in our family is strong and you are strong! None of us complains, and you shouldn't either! If you need help, ask for it, and if you can do something yourself, do it yourself." She was always raising me like that, and I didn't feel like a stranger in the society.

My mother did not develop complexes in me. The Lord also gives me good people who always support me. Mostly, I live among people who can see, and I have only a few friends who are blind. I even realized that at times I am thinking in the way as if I could see. When we organize something somewhere, I always think it out: who will meet the blind person, who will guide them, how to make such people feel comfortable...

• The opportunity to work at a real company is great. Have you thought about continuing your education?
• I was working and, at the same time, studying at the distance learning department of the Faculty of Philology at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University. So, I have a higher education degree in the Ukrainian and English languages. I entered the philology department because I had a dream of becoming a writer and writing a novel. I had analyzed the biographies of my favorite writers Oles Honchar, Pavlo Zahrebelnyi, Vasyl Stus, and Lina Kostenko and noticed that they all had a philosophical background. I thought that if I entered the philology department, that was it - I am already a writer. When I heard at the first lecture that we would be studying, for example, economics and that this subject is listed in the diploma transcript, I was very surprised. I sat there and thought: "Me and numbers." Although I graduated from school well and even received a gold medal, I never dreamed of being good at economics. Until my third year at university, I didn't write anything of my own because I didn't have enough time, but Mykola Mykolaienko always supported me and told me that I did everything right. In my third year of studies, at the age of 20, I was accepted to become a member of the National Association of Writers of Ukraine, and a very interesting thing happened after that. So, I am coming to lectures at the university, and everyone finds out that I am a member of the NAWU. They organize a meeting and start studying me, analyzing my works, asking me how I do it, rather than teaching me what and how to write. On the one hand, it was cool and great, but on the other hand, it was a bit of a shock to me, because I had come to the university for knowledge, and, in the end, I myself became an object for studying. But I am very grateful to my philology professors: by the fifth year of my studies, they trained me so well that, thanks to the university education, I began to help my fellow writers as an editor. Now my editorial work has grown into the Druzhko Publishing House. My friends and I decided to legalize it because we had been editing and helping to publish books anyway. In addition to the publishing house, we also have writing courses, so it is a whole literary universe in which I live.

- How difficult is it for you to help colleagues who have no visual impairments?

-The Lord has not given me physical vision, but blind people perceive the world in a slightly different way. For example, when a person enters an office and starts talking, I already know how to deal with them, while sighted people look at their appearance first. Very often, in my opinion, people hide their inner selves behind their appearance. Blind people immediately see what is inside, both good and not so good. I communicate with different people. Among them, there are those who like to play for an audience, and they are often said to be very cool, or vice versa, with a difficult character, but I can communicate with them normally. After all, this person knows very well that he or she does not need to wear a mask for me because it will help neither in relationships nor in literature. Many people don't even know that I cannot see; thanks to online tools, we work in Zoom and Telegram. Some people can guess when we start getting to know each other, but there are those who still don't understand. In addition to literature, I also have my own online store VivArt. As long as my disability has nothing to do with some specific situations, I don't focus attention on it because it doesn't play any role. When people already know that I cannot see, their attitude towards me does not change. Sometimes, on the contrary, I have to remind others of it. Moreover, even doctors may forget about it. I am being treated by a very cool neurosurgeon-oncologist, Professor Andrii Sirko, who knows how to explain everything well. He usually shows his patients a model of a human and analyzes it in detail so that they understand their disease. He sometimes forgets that I cannot see, and when he remembers about it, he puts the model in my hands and tells me what it looks like.

• Let's go back to literature. You had a dream of writing a novel. Now you have two of them among your achievements. Tell us about "Sheila," your first novel. Why did you want to write about the war at the age of 25?
• I was lucky that the older writers did not treat me, at least at that time, as a rival. When I joined the writers' association, the youngest member was 45 or 50 years old. I felt like I was in a fairy tale with wolves and a little red riding hood. I started writing "Sheila" in 2004. When my older colleagues learned that I was writing about such a complex topic, Volodymyr Sirenko, a well-known dissident, said, "Why are you writing about war? You weren't there and you don't know anything. Why on earth do you need this? You'll only embarrass yourself!" but Mykola Mykolaienko always supported my work. At that time, there were a lot of stories about the conflict in Iraq. I had no idea that the war would be in our country, and I was very surprised by the fact that the Western world had entered the Eastern world. These are completely different worlds; they are far from each other. I've always been interested in analyzing different situations on the borderline. For example, now I'm writing a novel about what I'm going through myself - about cancer.
• The novel "Hunting for an Aurochs" also raises social issues that have usually been silenced in Ukraine for a long time. Why did you choose Chornobyl?
• The distance between "Sheila" and "Hunting for an Aurochs" is a little over 10 years. I finished "Sheila" in 2008, and for that novel I received the Oles Honchar Ukrainian-German Prize. In 2009, it was published in the Sicheslav magazine, and now I am publishing it on the Arkush [arkush.net] platform. After that, for a long time, I didn't write big prose, as it seemed to me that I couldn't write anything better than Sheila. It took me a long time to get to the "Hunting for an Aurochs." It was 2012 when I started thinking about what this novel would be about. I was not the same Maria as I was in 2004. If you compare me in 2004 and in 2012 with me in the present, then I am more like Maria of 2012. Like it was then, today I want to write about Ukraine. In order to popularize Ukrainian literature in the world, our team at Druzhko Publishing House made the decision: as a matter of principle, we do not publish Ukrainian translations of works by foreign authors. We plan to translate the works of our writers into English and other languages to popularize our native writing. Before the full-scale invasion we were perceived as a bit strange people, and I was called a Banderite, but now it is very topical. Today, we are all Banderites in a good way, because we have finally realized that we are not strangers in this world as Europe is still living a peaceful life thanks to us. I chose Chornobyl for two reasons. First, it is our business card in the world. When I was talking to foreigners, they would say: "Oh, Chornobyl!" Secondly, I wanted to show that Chornobyl did not kill us. I am convinced that Chornobyl was not just a catastrophe. It happened because the Soviet Union had been chasing after energy production and did not care about Ukraine and Ukrainians at all. As one of the novel's characters, Oleksandr Kniazhuk, who was head of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, says: "You understand that I cannot give you more energy until we expand our resources. Give us some time. We will complete constructing the power units, and I will give you what you demand," but he was fired, as it always happened in the USSR, for his unwillingness to serve the country.
• Tell us about the VivArt art community. What inspired you to create it? How did a small library club transform into a huge art project?
• I think it happened because people need VivArt. Back in 2005, I was offered to work with creative youth when I graduated from university. Tetiana Herasiuta, director of the Central city library of my native Kamianske town, created a literary circle at the library's youth department, where I began to share with young authors my advice on where to start and how to work on their literary works in the future. We started inviting young people: schoolchildren and students. At first, we met in the library once a month, and then once every two weeks. After two or three years, from just a fun it grew into a necessity for me and other VivArt members because I felt like a little girl in the company of other colleagues of the Writers' Association. On the one hand, it was good and I could learn a lot from them, and on the other hand, in VivArt I could just sit down with a cup of tea, as we say, to christen a literary text. Previously, everyone used to bring their own works and read them out, but now they send them by e-mail or on Telegram. Afterwards, we discuss and analyze each other's works together. I discuss my works on an equal footing with everyone else, and it is very important to me as most of the members of our artistic community are my age. We gradually developed, and the online format allowed us to communicate with creative people from different parts of Ukraine and the world. In the summer of 2022, Yevheniia Yavorska, one of the active representatives of VivArt, suggested organizing a volunteer project called VivArt Summer Camp 22. We launched an online community that people were joining and recharging their creativity potential, because after the full-scale invasion began, many people stopped writing. 150 people joined our camp. To be honest, we hadn't been prepared for that, as we thought that only our friends or acquaintances would come. For six weeks we worked online every day: we handed out different creative tasks and discussed them. It was all free: some people dropped out, but there were about a hundred participants with whom we met regularly. Later, we started doing live broadcasts, where we communicated and shared the basic concepts of professional literature, for example, that poetry may not have rhymes... People were delighted and asked us to organize more of such training meetings. Then we founded the VivArt Literary Kitchen writing courses, which were already offered on a paid basis. In 6 weeks, together with the course participants, we wrote and published the book "VivArt Writing Intensive 22." Every month we hold thematic video parties on the @VivArt YouTube channel, where we read our works on a given topic. We also organize literary dinners once a month, where we meet interesting writers and talk about their work. I really like to communicate with people and interview them. Since 2019, I have been a member of the Kamianske branch of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.

- Tell us about this in more detail, please. How did you become a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU)?

• There is still a problem in writer's circles: the press is more active in writing about various robberies and break-ins, because that's what most people read, but it is important that someone also writes about events in cultural and literary life. I started doing this, and one day journalists offered me to become a member of the NUJU's Kamianske branch.

- "The Atmosphere of the Word" is an audio project you organized for blind and visually impaired people. How did you come up with the idea to create an audio collection instead of a Braille book?

• I had never thought about it: I just published poems on social media and published books in print. One of my blind friends, Stanislav Chirchenko, suggested that I create an audio collection of poems. Stas explained to me that audiobooks are one thing, but poems are quite a different thing, and it is particularly important how they are read and designed. I recited my poems, and Stanislav did the music design. He created an extraordinary atmosphere of words, and that's how we named our project. If it hadn't been for Stas, there would have been no "Atmosphere of the Word." Besides, an audio version of the novel "Hunting for the Atherocs" already exists. Today I realize that any book should be available in three versions: in print, in electronic, and audio formats. Because of the war, the number of blind and visually impaired people in Ukraine is increasing. Since such people cannot read with their eyes, they start reading with their ears, so audiobooks are very relevant today. By the way, we print books in Braille as part of the Knigolux social project. In my childhood, Braille books were different from modern ones. I often felt distressed that my peers were reading books that looked attractive with interesting covers, while I could only read brick-like tomes! When I started reading English-language Braille journals at university, I was very impressed by the fact that they looked like ordinary books or modern books for the blind. I agreed to publish books in Braille on the condition that they would look like regular books. Kharkiv-based writer Viktor Polianetskyi shared his idea to print books with a universal design. As part of the "Knigolux" program, books are published that must include pictures for both sighted and blind readers and a universal design, which means there is a flat printed text on the left and a Braille text on the right. Visually, it looks very elite. Such books unite people because they contain mostly literature for children and teenagers, which both sighted and blind people can read together. "Knigolux helped me break many stereotypes. We have added an audio format to some books, so that you can follow the link to the book on YouTube by scanning the QR code. For blind readers, the code is circled with a special frame that can be easily found. I also tried to do it and I was successful. If I can do it, then other blind readers can do it as well. They'll be able to listen to the audio version of the book without external help.
• Ms. Maria, you told us that you had oncology treatment. How are you feeling now?
• If we talk about me as a patient recovering from cancer, I am currently undergoing treatment. It has been going on for five years already. That's why Maria in 2018 and Maria today are different persons. Cancer has taught me a lot, because my values have changed, and my priorities have changed. I began to value life here and now because we do not know what will happen to us tomorrow. I used to perceive it as a kind of philosophy, but today I am living this way. Thank God, if I wake up in the morning without any pain, it is a great happiness.
• Tell us about the social project "You Can't Be Afraid of Cancer." What influenced your decision to launch this literary contest?
• There was a period in my life when I couldn't even drink water. I had a tumor in my mouth - a carcinoma [Carcinoma is a malignant process when the cells of the body undergo transformation, change their structure, and begin to multiply intensively. At the initial stage of development, a malignant tumor is a single entity, but as the disease progresses, cancer cells spread throughout the body, which leads to metastases]who was treated with radiation. I was treated for three months, and it gave terrible burns. In order to drink water or eat, I sprayed Lidocaine in my mouth and had literally 10 minutes to do everything. Once I wanted to start crying, but I quickly gave up because it was very painful. At that time, I came up with the idea for the "You Can't Be Afraid of Cancer" project. I asked myself: why did it happen to me? I am a writer, and the best thing I can do is to talk, but I'd been silent for over 3 months. Thanks to digital technologies, I was exchanging messages with my friends. I was lying there and wondering why God had taken away what was most important to me. Then I thought that, maybe, it happened because until the summer of 2020, I didn't talk about cancer but hid it like most people, although I got my first sarcoma in 2018, and it was fortunately removed. I made a decision: if I recover and God gives me back the ability to talk, I will talk about cancer and, first of all, about my experience with cancer treatment. I was looking for ways to talk about it and realized that the best way I could talk about cancer was through literature, so I organized the project "You Can't Be Afraid of Cancer." When we started this literary contest, we found out that, roughly speaking, one in five people in my environment had faced cancer. I started receiving letters by mail in which people wrote: "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about what hurts." In December 2022, I had a relapse of sarcoma. This was related to the war events because many people had relapses due to stress. When I went to the oncology center for radiation this year, there were very long queues, and from time to time I brought the books published as the results of the "You Can't Be Afraid of Cancer" contest. Many people in those queues are just crying, and it's normal because they are worried. I am very outraged that there are no oncology psychologists in cancer centers. If I hadn't sought professional help from a psychologist whom I know, I wouldn't have recovered, that's 100% sure.

Later, health care workers told me that after reading the "You Can't Be Afraid of Cancer" almanac, which contains poems, stories, fairy tales, and real stories of successful treatment, people stop crying, so this project needs to be continued, because cancer is not the end, but only a facet of life.

- A writer, publisher, volunteer, and a journalist. How do you find time for all these activities?

• I don't know. I just realized one thing: if I don't do any of these things, then some part of me will be lost. In fact, there is really a lack of time, but if the Lord gives opportunities to organize such projects, it means that he will find people with whom they can be fulfilled because it is very difficult to do it alone.

- What problems do you encounter because of your disability?

- Due to the cancer, it became a problem for me to move around on my own. Until 2018, I was able to walk with a white cane confidently. But now there are times when I feel weak and it's hard for me to concentrate, and because of that I'm afraid to be left somewhere in the middle of the city. One of my friends taught me to find the silver lining in any situation because there are always many minuses. In particular, there are advantages in being blind: I'm easy to remember, and I'm more organized because I plan everything in advance. People often help if you explain your problem to them properly. In my opinion, blind people should constantly talk about their disability because not all people know how to help us. It is also important to take care of your appearance: hair, nails, clothes, etc.

- What would you wish to everyone who will be reading our interview?

• I wish they could always find something positive, because there is a way out of any situation, but whether we are ready to find it and accept it is another question. You can be thinking for a long time about why everyone in my family has vision, but I am blind, and it would seem then that life is lost. But if there is no exit through the door, I will get out through the balcony. It is the same with the oncology. I thought for a long time why it had happened to me? However, today I realize that God gave it to me to teach me to appreciate every moment. Sometimes I ask, "Lord, can I finally pass your exams and get a diploma for a happy and carefree life?" If we notice the negative things only, we simply won't find a drop of energy in ourselves to wake up tomorrow.

Maria Druzhko is a person who does not give up in the face of challenges. She has turned her disability into a strength that helps her realize all her creative ideas. This woman's talent, faith, and resilience are her keys to success and happiness. Her words are like pearls that the writer gifts to her readers from the bottom of her heart.

 

Prepared by Tamila Koval

 

"THE INVINCIBLE LADY is a series of articles about Ukrainian women and girls that motivate, fascinate, and inspire.

This initiative is part of the project "Empowerment of Women and Girls with Disabilities by Strengthening their Involvement and Leadership in Communities," which is being implemented by the National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine with the support of UN Women Ukraine and the Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund.

About the UN Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF)

The UN Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund is a unified global financial mechanism designed exclusively to support the participation of women in peace and security building and humanitarian responses. Governed by a range of civil society, governments, and UN actors, WPHF is a multi-partner trust fund that mobilizes urgently needed funding for local women-led organizations and works together with women on the frontlines to build lasting peace. WPHF has provided funding and supported capacity building for more than 500 local civil society organizations working with the Women, Peace, and Security agenda and implementing humanitarian activities in 28 crisis-affected countries.

This publication has been prepared with the financial support of the United Nations Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), but the views and contents expressed herein do not necessarily represent the official endorsement or recognition of the United Nations.