The NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security, Irene Fellin, invites you to join her and Viktoriya and Pavlo Matyusha, authors of "Lettres d'amour et de guerre", for a presentation and discussion of their book.

Separated by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Viktoriya and Pavlo Matyusha have decided to write letters to each other. Pavlo is a novelist, and although he was not mobilised, he enlisted in Spring 2022.

Viktoriya, a literary agent and interpreter, found refuge in France. Alone with her children in a foreign country, she cannot understand why Pavlo voluntarily remains at the front. This correspondence becomes an outlet for them.

After a short reading by the authors, there will be a moderated discussion with Irene Fellin, NATO’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security. The floor will then be open for questions.

ABOUT

Viktoriya Matyusha, born in Kyiv, Ukraine. Graduated from Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University with major in interpreting. PhD in Translation Studies.

Freelance conference interpreter for international organisations (EC, EP, NATO, OECD etc). Founder of Literary Agency Ovo, established in 2019 which is promoting modern Ukrainian authors both in Ukraine and abroad.

Pavlo Matyusha was born in Rivne. He lives and works in Kyiv, heading a strategic department in an international company. He holds an MBA from HEC Paris business school, specialising in strategy and social business. His earlier career started on the civil service in the field of inter-parliamentary diplomacy (secretary of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegations to PACE, OSCE PA, IPU).

During the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, he served in the 47th machanized brigade as a combat training officer. His brigade took Rabotyne village in the summer of 2023.

Pavlo is the author of a collection of poems "Paris. Splin", the novel “Coquelicot”, the collection of short stories "Circle with a Dot", the book of fairy tales “Viyechka/Eyelash", as well as various essays and columns. He was a participant in festivals and creative projects. He also translated French and American poetry.

Together with his wife Viktoriya and L'Obs reporter Doan Bui, he is the author of a novel in letters, “Letters of Love and War”, published in February 2024 by L'Iconoclaste.

Viktoriya and Pavlo have four children.