With the recent events of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Irpin has become the epicenter of global attention — a symbol of both destruction and unbreakable courage. This article focuses on how the city and its dramatic events have been reflected in contemporary literature, as well as recalling notable Ukrainian writers who lived and created in Irpin.
Petro Shcherbyna — “The Battle for Irpin”
The book recounts the events that took place in late February and March of the previous year in the city of Irpin, Kyiv region. It includes reflections on the Irpin events by prominent international figures, a list of military units that carried out combat missions in the area, and tributes to the heroes who gave their lives defending Irpin.
In May 2022, the publishing house Samit-Knyha released the English-language edition of “The Battle for Irpin.” The book was later added to the Library of Congress in the United States and presented in Washington, Warsaw, Dublin, and other European cities.
The publication stands as the first collection of firsthand stories from those who directly participated in the defense of the Hero City of Irpin — civilians who took up arms to form the city’s territorial defense, ATO veterans who once again stood to defend Ukraine, this time their own hometown, as well as doctors, volunteers, and officials who refused to abandon Irpin in its darkest days.
Yevheniia Podobna — “Cities of the Living, Cities of the Dead: Stories from the War in Bucha and Irpin”
In December 2022, the publishing house Folio released a book by journalist, war correspondent, and media trainer Yevheniia Podobna — “Cities of the Living, Cities of the Dead: Stories from the War in Bucha and Irpin.” The work documents the crimes committed by Russian occupiers against Ukrainians.
“I would give so much for this book not to exist. For none of what it tells about to have ever happened. It contains only a part of the material I gathered during the summer and September. This is deeply personal to me. It hurts. In times when tomorrow might not come, I am terrified of simply not managing to record, to find, to retell,” — wrote Yevheniia on the day of the book’s release.
Serhii Martyniuk — “13 Poems, or The Battle for Irpin Changed the World”
The new poetry collection “13 Poems, or The Battle for Irpin Changed the World” by Serhii Martyniuk (also known by his pen name Svitohor Leleko) marks a new stage in the author’s military writing. On February 24, Martyniuk took up a hunting rifle and joined the Irpin resistance movement against the occupiers.
The thirteen poems in this collection were written in trenches, at combat positions, and under shelling. One line was composed in the Irpin Writers’ House, another at “Zhyraf,” the next at “Karavangala,” and another at Vodokanal. That is why these poems are battle-born — imbued with sweat, gunpowder, and glory.
Serhii Martyniuk once expressed a powerful thought:
“If you don’t want to live in darkness, light the flame of truth about the unconquered Ukrainian spirit.”
Anatolii Zborovskyi — “The History of the Irpin Region”
This book explores the history of the city of Irpin and the nearby settlements that were once administratively part of it — the city of Bucha and the towns of Vorzel, Hostomel, and Kotsiubynske — from ancient times up to the year 2020. It presents an objective and politically unbiased account of the region’s past. The book is based on documents from numerous archives, press publications, independent editions, and the memoirs of local residents. It highlights the economic and cultural development of the area, as well as its place on Ukraine’s literary map — since 1935, the Irpin Writers’ House of Creativity has been operating here. Irpin has long been and remains a center of Ukrainian literary creation, while Vorzel is home to the Composers’ House of Creativity.
The book itself is the result of more than 30 years of work by the museum’s director — a culmination of research and a lifelong effort to preserve and share the history of his native land. Back in 1998, the Universe publishing house released Zborovskyi’s textbook “The History of the Native Land. The Irpin Area” for local schools. Later, in 2017, Prometei published an expanded version titled “The History of the Irpin Region,” and in 2020, Universe issued a third, updated edition.
The latest edition was presented on September 18. It was published with funding from the Irpin Public Budget program, and copies were distributed free of charge to the city’s libraries and educational institutions.
Mykola Nosov — “The Secret at the Bottom of the Well”
In 1911, the family of writer Mykola Nosov settled in Irpin, on Persha Liniia Street (now 12 Stelmakh Street). Born in Kyiv, Nosov spent his childhood and teenage years in Irpin. He vividly captured his childhood impressions and early working experiences in his autobiographical book “The Secret at the Bottom of the Well.” The work paints colorful scenes of Irpin’s life at the beginning of the 20th century.
In the book, Nosov recounts his childhood and the events he personally lived through. According to the author, the main character of the story is, in many ways, himself:
“You could say that, but it would only be partly true. When I was writing, I wanted readers to see in my character not only me, but also themselves.”
“The Trains Whistle Beyond Irpin…” and “The Irpin Parnassus”
In 1905, Kyiv public figure and entrepreneur Ivan Chokolov was among the first to build a two-story mansion on the picturesque elevated bank of the Irpin River. Beginning in the 1920s, the estate served as a trade-union summer retreat, and in 1936 the former Chokolov dacha, along with the surrounding territory, was transferred to the ownership of the Writers’ Union of Ukraine and officially named the Writers’ House of Creativity in Irpin. After World War II, several two-story residential buildings for writers were added to the complex.
The Writers’ House of Creativity became a true source of inspiration for Ukrainian literature — a haven of creativity, reflection, and peace — affectionately known among writers as the “Irpin Parnassus.”
Writers’ memories of their stays at the House of Creativity, together with their poems and photographs, were compiled in Oleksa Yushchenko’s 2003 book “The Trains Whistle Beyond Irpin…” In 2016, Ukrainian author Volodymyr Koskin published “The Irpin Parnassus: A Historical Lyrical-Humorous Narrative” through Perun Publishing House, which explores the fates of Ukrainian writers and their literary characters who found inspiration in this remarkable place.
Bohdan Rylskyi — “A Journey into My Father’s Youth”
Many Ukrainian writers lived in Irpin not only within the Writers’ House of Creativity but also in their own homes or the houses of friends. Among them was the celebrated Ukrainian poet Maksym Rylskyi, who lived and worked in Irpin from the spring of 1938 to the spring of 1951, at 15 Tsentralna Street. During the summers, he tended to his garden among his favorite trees and flowers or went fishing on the Irpin River.
Many classic and emerging poets, artists, and actors fondly recalled this modest estate, where literary gatherings often took place before Rylskyi moved to his new dacha in Holosiiv. It was in Irpin that he wrote his poem “In My Little House, in Green Irpin” (1943).
His son, Bohdan Rylskyi, devoted an entire chapter titled “In the Pine-Covered Irpin” to this period of his father’s life and that of their family in his memoir book “A Journey into My Father’s Youth.”
Ukrainian Writers Who Created in Irpin
So many literary works were written in Irpin that no other town of comparable size could match its creative output. Writers often marked the place of composition in their works, and many manuscripts concluded with the word “Irpin.”
Volodymyr Sosiura wrote his poetry collections “The Green World” and “Swallows in the Sun” here. Andrii Malyshko created “Beyond the Blue Sea,” “The Spring Book,” and “What I Have Written.”Maksym Rylskyi composed in Irpin his poem “Thirst,” the cycle “Fishermen’s Sonnets,” and numerous poems such as “Young Orchard,” “The Night Was Rocking,” “Spring Rolls in Smoke,” and “Meditations.”Pavlo Zahrebelnyi wrote several of his major novels here — “The Miracle,” “The First Bridge,” “Death in Kyiv,” “Yevpraksiia,” “The Lion’s Heart,” and “Roksolana.”Ivan Honcharenko created the poetry cycle “Irpin Meetings.”
Other notable writers who worked on Irpin soil include Ostap Vyshnia (“Hunting Smiles”), Leonid Pervomaiskyi (the novel “Wild Honey,” the poetry collection “Yesterday and Tomorrow”), Mykhailo Stelmakh (“Four Fords,” “Bread and Salt,” “Human Blood Is Not Water,” “The Great Family,” “Truth and Falsehood,” “A Thought of You”), Oleksandr Dovzhenko (the screenplay for “Earth”), Stepan Vasylchenko (“In the Weeds”), Hryhorii Kochur (“Echo,” “Second Echo,” “Third Echo” — collections of poetic translations), Dmytro Palamarchuk (“Ringing Echoes,” translations of Shakespeare and Byron), Hryhir Tiutiunnyk (“They Married Katrya”), Yurii Mushketyk (the novels “Haidamaky,” “Yasa,” “The Hetman’s Treasure,” “Heart and Stone,” and the novellas “Black Bread,” “Semen Palii,” “Fires in the Night”), Yevhen Hutsalo (“The Green Joy of Lilies of the Valley,” “Apples from the Autumn Garden,” “People Among People,” “The Borrowed Man,” “The Private Life of a Phenomenon”), Oleksa Yushchenko (“The Trains Whistle Beyond Irpin,” “In My Memory,” “Meeting with Beauty,” “I Bow to You,” “A Word to My Friends”), and Ivan Drach (“Poems”).
In 2018, to mark Irpin City Day, the city received a symbolic literary gift — a collective poetry anthology titled “Rhymed Irpin.” The collection features poems by 126 authors, all dedicated to Irpin and the Writers’ House of Creativity, reaffirming the city’s enduring place as one of Ukraine’s literary capitals.
