4.5.0. Anthology of Military Literature

This anthology brings together poetry, short stories, essays, and diaries of servicemen and veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war — participants in the first war literature competition “4.5.0.”, organized by the International Renaissance Foundation in conjunction with the Old Lion Publishing House.

The included texts are born from personal experience, pain, loss, and struggle that form a new literary language of war. The anthology is not only a testament to modern Ukrainian reality, but also an important act of memory, reflection, and cultural resistance of the Ukrainian people.

The war literature competition for servicemen and veterans “4.5.0.” was founded in 2024 by the International Renaissance Foundation in partnership with the Old Lion Publishing House. Unpublished works were accepted in four categories: short stories, essays, diaries, and poetry.

A total of 271 works were submitted to the competition, all texts were anonymized before being submitted to the jury. The evaluation was carried out by a jury consisting of writers and military personnel Yevhen Lir, Olena Herasymiuk, Pavlo Belianskyi and Olena Lototska, philosopher and writer Volodymyr Yermolenko, and literary critic Rostyslav Semkiv.

This anthology includes the works of the winners and finalists, selected on the basis of artistic and literary criteria.