This Ukrainian author explores the depths of human experience through poetry and prose. His works often delve into themes of identity and displacement, reflecting his own journey from living in Donetsk to relocating to Kyiv. The author's ability to portray complex emotions and thoughts gives him a unique voice in contemporary literature. His style is characterized by insightful introspection and a sensitive observation of the world.
In The Length of Days, featuring a wild cast of characters, Rafeyenko combines poetry and wicked humor with elements of magical realism. The novel is set in 2014, mostly in the composite Donbas city of Z—an uncanny foretelling of what this letter has come to symbolize since February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mondegreen tells the story of a refugee from Ukraine's Donbas region who has escaped to Kyiv at the onset of the Ukrainian-Russian war. Written in beautiful, experimental style, the novel shows how people-and cities-are capable of radical transformation and how this, in turn, affects their interpersonal relations and cultural identification.