Mykyta Lyskov

Mykyta Lyskov is a Ukrainian animator, film director, illustrator and teacher based in Dnipro. Working primarily in hand-drawn animation, he has established himself as one of the leading figures in contemporary Ukrainian independent animation. His films combine surrealism, dark humour and sharp social satire to explore themes including inequality, war, environmental neglect and the absurdities of everyday life. His award-winning films, including Love, Putler Kaput! and Kyiv Cake, have been screened at major international festivals and have received numerous awards in Ukraine and abroad. Alongside his filmmaking, he teaches animation and dramaturgy in Dnipro and is currently researching the history of Ukrainian animation. During his residency, he will work on a graphic novel set in a fictionalised version of his native city.

Marina Didenko

Marina Didenko is a Ukrainian writer, editor and volunteer from Kharkiv. She writes contemporary literary fiction that combines realism with elements of the absurd, exploring the emotional texture of everyday life under extraordinary circumstances. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, she has remained in Kharkiv, where both her volunteer work and lived experience have shaped her writing. Her debut collection, A Lump in the Throat (Kom v Gorle), draws on the realities of wartime life, capturing moments of pain, resilience and unexpected humanity. Alongside her literary work, Marina has an extensive background in publishing and editing. During her residency, she will work on her new book, Blue Electrical Tape, which reflects on the ways war reshapes both individuals and society. 

Vadym Mеnzhulin

Vadym Menzhulin is a Ukrainian philosopher, historian of ideas and Professor of Philosophy at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. His research spans the history of philosophy, philosophical biography and metaphilosophy, with a particular interest in the relationship between intellectual life, personal character and civic responsibility. He has written extensively on philosophical biography, American philosophy and the public role of ideas, and has held a Fulbright Senior Scholarship at Harvard University. During his residency at Ukrainian Cosmopolis, he will develop a project on civic courage in nineteenth-century American thought, examining the lives and writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville as enduring examples of the relationship between philosophy, literature and public life.

Victoria Korytnianska

Viktoriya Korytnyanska is an Odesa-based writer, researcher and specialist in cultural heritage preservation. Trained as a biologist, she has worked since 2007 at the Odesa branch of Ukraine’s National Research and Restoration Centre, where her research concerns the biological deterioration of museum collections. She is the author of more than one hundred scientific publications, as well as three books of literary prose, and has written extensively on Odesa’s cultural history, the Holocaust and the Second World War. During her residency at Ukrainian Cosmopolis, she will continue work on a book about literary life in Odesa under German-Romanian occupation from 1941 to 1944, drawing on archival research conducted in Ukraine, Germany, Poland and elsewhere.