Read an excerpt from CBS News (February 6, 2022):
Book excerpt: I Will Die In a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart
* 2022 Young Lions Fiction Award, Winner.
* VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, Longlist.
* An ABA "Indie Next List" pick for November 2021.
* "A Best Book of 2021" –New York Public Library, Cosmopolitan, Independent Book Review
* "October 2021 Must-Reads" –Debutiful, The Chicago Review of Books, The Millions
"An impressive feat of empathy... In this novel about the fight for a fatherland, the relationships between fathers and mothers and their children are spotlit in sometimes shocking ways... I Will Die in a Foreign Land is also overwhelmingly full of music: the Captain's piano playing that sustains protesters; the bells of the monastery; and through the novel's choral structure, a swirl of private melodies that come together in surprising harmony from start to finish. The title itself comes from a western Ukrainian song, traditionally performed by kobzari, the wandering bards "liquidated" by Stalin in 1932. Their ghosts are ever-present in this rich, multilayered story. It will resonate with a wide range of readers, and provide illuminating insight for those hoping to learn more about the current conflict."
–Jennifer Croft, The Guardian
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"This novel can only be described as epic... What Pickhart reminds us is that every face in the crowd of a conflict has its own intimate story, and has its own reasons for believing what they believe. The danger we all face is forgetting that democracy is actually the agreement to peacefully disagree... I Will Die in a Foreign Land opened my heart and my mind in new ways."
–Jennifer Morrison, A3C Reads
"I Will Die in a Foreign Land is the July 2022 Book of the Month for A3C Reads"
"Political leaders often behave as if they have no idea what a human life even is, as if none of them had mothers or know the sound of a piano or remember the weight of one hand in another. Kalani Pickhart's I Will Die in a Foreign Land is a wild and prismatic refutation of that tragedy–the ongoing disaster of greed and domination and war."
–Catherine Lacey, Young Lions Fiction Award judge, and author of Pew, The Answers, and Nobody Is Ever Missing, in Lit Hub
"Kalani Pickhart has won the NYPL's Young Lions Fiction Award."
"Kalani Pickhart has won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, given annually to a work of fiction by a writer aged 35 or under, for I Will Die in a Foreign Land."
–Michael Schaub, Kirkus
"Kalani Pickhart Wins NYPL Young Lions Award" (6/17/2022)
I Will Die in a Foreign Land is the winner of the 2022 Young Lions Fiction Award, presented by The New York Public Library.
"Established in 2001, The New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award is a $10,000 prize awarded each year to a writer age 35 or younger for a novel or a collection of short stories. Each year, five young fiction writers are selected as finalists by a reading committee of Young Lions members, writers, editors, and librarians. A panel of judges selects the winner."
"A razor-sharp debut that follows four disparate people during the 2014 Maidan revolution in Ukraine. A novel that is both beautifully poetic and intensely moving, I Will Die in a Foreign Land is the kind of read that feels like a timeless ballad detailing the connections between humankind and the tragedy of war."
–BN Editors, The Barnes & Noble Review
"Best Books of the Year (So Far) 2022"
"What makes the breakout success of I Will Die in a Foreign Land even more compelling is its backstory: it was an unagented and unsolicited manuscript written by a writer who is not of Ukrainian ancestry that fell into the right hands at [Two Dollar Radio] by happenstance."
–Claire Kirch, Publishers Weekly
"Debut Novel About Ukraine Receives Attention, Acclaim" (May 04, 2022)
"Everyone should read this book right now. Wow, Kalani Pickhart taught me so much about the complicated and messy recent history of Russia, Ukraine and their neighbors. Told in news briefs, intimate character narratives, old recordings sent to a long lost daughter, "songs" and nonfiction snippets, this is the most unique and touching novel I have ever read. For anyone who wants to know more about the continuing struggles and wars in Ukraine but with the heartbeat if a novel this is the book for you. I Will Die in a Foreign Land, tore my heart out, stitched it back together again and fed my compassion and understanding for people caught up in continuous uprisings and war."
–Danica Ramgoolam, Townie Books (Crested Butte, Colorado)
"I Will Die in a Foreign Land chronicles what Ukrainian protests looked like in 2013 and 2014, as demonstrators pushed for closer ties with NATO and the European Union."
–Rina Torchinsky, NPR
"Read these 6 books about Ukraine"
"Do you want to know more about the crisis in Ukraine? Do you want to read a lesbian activist love story? Do you want to know what happens to a KGB spy turned protest street pianist? Then this is the book you're looking for!"
–Fisher Nash, Carmichael's Bookstore (Louisville, Kentucky)
"Ukraine's struggle against Russia engulfs the world today, and Pickhart's novel has proven hauntingly germane in its portrayal of the ever-widening gyre and the innocents destroyed at its center."
–Amy Gustine, Cleveland Review of Books
"Brevity Creates Breadth: A Review-Interview with Kalani Pickhart on I Will Die in a Foreign Land"
"A captivating, heartbreaking, poetic, debut novel set during the Euromaidan demonstrations in Ukraine 2013-2014. We follow four characters whose paths cross in the heat of the protests, one of whom, Katya, is a Ukraine-born but Boston-raised physician. Not only a ground-level view of Kiev in the years that shaped the current political situation, but is also structurally innovative and a powerful read."
–Kathy Crowley, Belmont Books, Belmont, Massachusetts
"These are well-rounded characters whose story arcs underscore cause and effect, the power of the arts, repercussions of bottled-up grief, the brother/sisterhood of humanity, and the importance of love and perseverance in a world of terror run amok."
–Lanie Tankard, On the Seawall
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"Kalani Pickhart's timely debut novel, I Will Die In a Foreign Land, is about the 2014 Ukrainian revolution which provided a pretense for Russia to annex Crimea. The story follows the experiences of several characters whose lives intersect as the country's political situation deteriorates. There's a Ukrainian-American doctor, an old KGB spy, a former mine worker, and others, and these episodes are interspersed with folk songs, news reports and historical notes. The effect–kaleidoscopic but never confusing–provides an intimate sense of a country convulsing, mourning, and somehow surviving."
–CBS News, "The Book Report: Recommendations from Washington Post critic Ron Charles"
(Watch the full video on CBS News, February 6, 2022).
"I tore through I Will Die in a Foreign Land. It's terrific. I've been following the alarming news about Putin's machinations along the Ukrainian border, but nothing has given me such a profound impression of what Ukrainians have endured as this intensely moving novel."
–Ron Charles, Washington Post
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"I Will Die in a Foreign Land tells the harrowing story of the Ukrainian conflict in 2014. Raw and emotional, Pickhart expertly displays the emotional passion and patriotic values at the root of the conflict, centered around the intersection of four main characters... Pickhart does what the media couldn't: she puts names and faces to the stories of violent conflict. She reminds the reader that every journalist who disappeared is your friend who loudly states their opinion, that every mother is a woman with a backstory of love and life and pain before she moved into her new role... It's apparent from the beginning that there is an underlying thread, a ribbon of truth connecting them all, and Pickhart makes sure the reader stays on long enough to find out what it is."
–Alexandra Barbush, Independent Book Review
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"Sometimes, fiction does a better job of getting to the heart of a subject than nonfiction. This unusual novel takes place during the 2014 Maidan protests that ended in bloodshed and precipitated the removal of Ukraine's pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych. It follows several characters as they participate in the protests and learn to live with unimaginable loss in the midst of violent upheaval and repression."
–Eileen Gonzalez, BookRiot
"BOOKS FOR UNDERSTANDING RUSSIA'S INVASION OF UKRAINE"
"Pickhart's characters are rich and real, flawed and scared, brave and noble. They betray and they are betrayed, sexually and politically and in every other way. They are shaped by individual choices and the terrible choices forced on them by history. They're humans caught in a current.... By telling stories of those who live in history but refuse to fully succumb to it, Pickhart recuperates the humanity of the people of Ukraine and celebrates their lives as human beings, not as footnotes to someone else's history."
–Brian O'Neill, Necessary Fiction
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"Eight years before the recent Russian invasion, a popular uprising in Kyiv overthrew the old Moscow-backed government in favor of moving toward the European Union–an act for which Russia has been punishing Ukraine ever since. It is those events that inspired Kalani Pickhart's recent novel, I Will Die in a Foreign Land. Hailed as one of the best books of 2021, it has found renewed relevance in the aftermath of the invasion. In this podcast, she joins New Lines' Lydia Wilson to discuss what first drew her to the story, the relationship between fiction and journalism, and how the long history of Russian aggression against Ukraine led to the current crisis."
–New Lines Podcast, March 11, 2022
"Writing a Revolution: Ukraine's Maidan Uprising – with Kalani Pickhart"
"Camera-eye perspective of the Ukraine Euromaidan protests–if John Dos Passos and John Reed joined Pussy Riot–rich, variegated characters, tense plot. A must read for anyone inclined toward world literature."
–ABA Indie Next List: Conor Hultman, Square Books (Oxford, MS)
I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an ABA Indie Next List pick for November 2021
"A debut that is as thoughtful as it is explosive."
–Wendy J. Fox, BuzzFeed
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"Via a chorus of voices infused with folklore, this novel follows four individuals during a volatile Ukrainian winter, as their lives become intertwined and are forever changed by the protests triggered by their president's alignment with Russia instead of the EU in 2013."
–New York Public Library
"Best Books for Adults 2021"
"In many ways, the book feels like an ode to the everyman of Ukraine. With a deft hand, it celebrates those who strive to heal when the world around them feels broken, and the bravery required to love against the odds... I Will Die in a Foreign Land is at once a detailed snapshot of a very specific time and place, and an enduring, universal rallying call for hope in the face of tyranny."
–Callum McLaughlin, BookBrowse
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"2021 was a badass year for indie press books. This isn't anything new. Indie presses are always pushing boundaries, bending genres, breaking new ground, and changing the scope of the literary landscape... here is this year's roundup of Impressive Indie Press Books of 2021."
–Joe Walters, Independent Book Review
View I Will Die in a Foreign Land on the "35 Impressive Indie Press Books of 2021"
"This novel spans a whole century, starting in 1913 with a ballet that starts a riot and picking up in 2013–which, TBH, feels like it was a hundred years from now. It's told from multiple perspectives and points in history, giving you a fully immersive experience that's perfect for a winter read."
–Adrianna Freedman & Leah Marilla Thomas, Cosmopolitan
"Best Historical Fiction Novels of 2021"
"Since 1991, Ukraine has experienced three revolutions, and Pickhart elegantly captures how these events build up inside a person, giving many Ukrainians an acute awareness of the self as both agent and consequence of history. For a man like Aleksandr Ivanovich, who wears insignia of the fallen Soviet empire to the 21st-century revolution, each uprising bleeds into the next. The book's structure enhances this duality through short, fragmented chapters, folk songs, news clips, and a chorus of Kobzari bards; history is rendered diffuse and polyphonic, a tapestry of actors, concerns, and subplots. In our conversation, Pickhart discussed the elaborate form of her novel and the shifting relationships between revolution's heroes and aggressors, its insiders and outsiders."
–Sonya Bilocerkowycz, author of On Our Way Home from the Revolution, speaks with author Kalani Pickhart about her debut novel I Will Die in a Foreign Land, for The Los Angeles Review of Books
"The book is gripping, the stories of the characters wrap around each other like vines, and around the reader–choking and pulling them through. Pickhart uses the device of the Kobzari folk singers whose lyrics function like a Greek chorus, weaving together the pain of the individual characters and placing it in a broader cultural context."
–Katya Apekina, author of The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish, speaks with author Kalani Pickhart about her debut novel I Will Die in a Foreign Land, for Electric Literature
First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing podcast 11/15/2021
Host Mitzi Rapkin and Kalani Pickhart in conversation about writing the complexities of the 2013 Ukrainian Protests in Pickhart debut novel I Will Die in a Foreign Land.
Burned By Books podcast: An interview with Kalani Pickhart 12/31/2021
From host Chris Holmes – "Russia is again amassing troops on the Ukrainian border. There are threats of more sanctions from the US and the EU, but those come with a tacit understanding that there is likely little that the world can do to stop Putin should he decide to invade. It is within this frightening context that Kalani Pickhart's extraordinary novel, I Will Die in a Foreign Land, enters the scene. The novel itself is a beautiful pastiche of forms: novelistic plots mix with songs and folktales, manifests of passengers killed in downed planes or in the melee of protest, diaries and recordings, all working to build a feeling, the urge for a democratic voice to speak against violence and despair. Kalani and I discuss the burden of writing true in a work of fiction, and so much more!"
"Phoenix author Kalani Pickhart's debut novel is a fascinating, genre-bending ride through the 2013 protests in Ukraine that led to a deadly winter and, ultimately, the Ukrainian Revolution... It's a gripping take on modern historical fiction that will be especially compelling to those interested in Eastern European politics."
–Leah LeMoine, PHOENIX magazine
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"I'd sure like to be a part of the decision-making process for the Pulitzer or the National Book Award right now. If I had any say in it, I Will Die in a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart would win. I don't say that lightly... The exploration of love and its many complicated facets is the driving force of I Will Die In a Foreign Land. The inciting incident is the protest and the desire for human rights and dignity inherent in that action, but I'd argue the real gem of the story is love. This may sound trite, but it's not–at least not in Pickhart's deft writerly hands."
–Mandy Shunnarah, Hot Off the Shelf
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"Pickhart's characters are alive. You can almost touch them and hear their unique voices. She perfectly fleshes out the individuality of the major characters and those around them with such precision that no one speaks or thinks the same. The movements and decisions of the characters follow real events of the times, making the novel appear like a documentary. By doing this she captures the reader's interest, and a chronology of important events is listed in the book to help us better understand the flow of the narrative."
–Eunice Barbara Novio, Litro
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"What author Kalani Pickhart has achieved is a novel that is at once tragic and beautiful. Taking a variety of mediums, from non-linear storytelling, newspaper accounts, and ancient Ukranian folk songs, at times it seems the novel's main protagonist is [Ukraine] and the characters are simply there to flesh out this complex region of the world... I Will Die in a Foreign Land is simply breathtaking in its scope. Pickhart's storytelling is flawless with nothing gratuitous or superfluous. She has taken a large, complex subject and rendered it both tragic and tender by reminding the reader that in the end, the individual life touched by conflict is what really matters."
–Cynthia A. Graham, New York Journal of Books
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
"The risk in war and revolution is that human kindness will be extinguished forever, but Kalani Pickhart shows the ways that our loves affect us more deeply and permanently than the ever shifting forces of history. This makes a political struggle that might be a bit confusing for western readers much more accessible–we all know what it's like to experience love and loss. It also personalizes the conflict. After all, why do we fight, if not to avoid burying the ones we love?"
–Rufus Hickok, Ordinary Times
(Read the full review of I Will Die in a Foreign Land)
Hayden's Ferry Review interview with Kalani Pickhart 11/16/2021
"From Web Editor Christina D'Antoni: On October 20th [2021], I interviewed Kalani at her book launch at Changing Hands Bookstore for I Will Die In a Foreign Land–her debut novel. We talked a lot about the structure of her book, displacement, grief, and the contextualization of both historical and personal tragedies. What follows are the questions I didn't ask–questions that felt like "deep cuts,"–too specific to my writerly interests, or too narrow for an in-person audience. I hope you'll devour her responses like I did, when they popped up weeks after the event in my inbox."
"Blending folklore, journalism, and a quartet of interwoven narratives, Kalani Pickhart's debut novel, I Will Die in a Foreign Land, takes place during the 2013-14 Ukrainian Revolution amidst a wave of winter protests. Set in Kyiv at the heart of the civil unrest, the novel is orchestral and electrifying, with its main characters–Katya, Misha, Slava, and Aleksandr–orbiting around its central location."
–Aram Mrjoian, Chicago Review of Books
(Read the full interview with author Kalani Pickhart)
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