Sashko Komiakhov

Kyiv Artist. His field of work is book design and illustration, comics, posters, prints, infographics, military patches. Curator in popular history educational projects. Co-founder of illustration and comics communities “Illustractor” and “Comicsoda”.

Iryna Gromova was born in the city of Chortkiv, Ternopil region. By education, she is a specialist in international economic relations. Brand strategist and cultural manager. Methodologist at BaraBooka, Children’s Reading Laboratory of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Creative producer of a series of augmented reality books: “Alice in Wonderland”, “Alice Through the Looking Glass”, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” (Art Nation Publishing). In 2020, she made her debut as the author of the children’s picture book “Maryam and the Windowsill Mail”.

Writer, creativity and writing coach, certified creativity expert, motivational speaker. Co-founder of Creative Women Publishing and Creative Women Space. Resident at the Șontron Writer’s Residency (Iasi, Romania). Writes books for adults and children, helps aspiring authors to reveal their creative potential, find their unique author’s voice, tell their stories, and become visible to the world.

Crocus Publishers’ founder and CEO. Nargis Gafurova was born on 25.09.1969. Education: Master of Arts, Kharkiv Karazin National University, Philology department. She has been working in Ukrainian book industry for 20+ years; she is experienced as an employee as well as an entrepreneur developing her own book projects. She has always been fond of books and everything connected to them.

Historian, researcher at the Institute of East European Studies at Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic). Author of the books “Rebellion against Empire: Ukrainian Sixties” (Kyiv, 2023) and “Hovory o Ukrajině” (Prague, 2023). In August 2023, the Czech publishing house Jota is preparing to publish the book “Ukrajina: Osobní svědectví a geopolitické pozadí rusko-ukrajinského konfliktu.” (“Ukraine: Personal Testimony and Geopolitical Background of the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict”, co-authored with Sonya Koshkina).

Yevheniia Nesterovych (1988) is a cultural manager, critic, and writer. She was born in Hadiach, Poltava region, now she lives in Lviv. She was a co-editor of the culture page at the Zbruc.eu (2013-2018), a program director at the NGO Art Council Dialogue (2015-2021), and a program coordinator at the Czech Center in Kyiv (2020-2022). In 2016, in collaboration with Yuriy Izdryk, she published the book Summa (Meridian Czernowitz). Since May 2022, she leads the team of the Post Bellum Ukraine NGO.

The owner and CEO at Mamino Publishing House LLC. Born Oct 12, 1982. In 2004, he got Master’s degree, Publishing&printing faculty, NTUU “KPI”. In 2005, he founded the advertising and production company “S.D.S.- Alliance” which was one of the leaders of the market. In 2014, he founded the online store of children’s books “Knygarenka”. In 2018, he published the first book “Tooth” which immediately received the audience award at the Book Arsenal. In 2019, he became a co-owner of Mamino Publishing House.

Yuliya Musakovska is the author of five poetry collections in Ukrainian, most recently The God of Freedom (2021). Her bilingual collection Iron (2022) with translations by Aneta Kaminska was published in Poland. In 2023, her chapbook Stones and Nails translated by Mikael Nydahl was published in Sweden. Among her awards is a prominent Smoloskyp Poetry Prize. Yuliya’s work has been translated into 30 languages and featured internationally. She is a translator of Tomas Tranströmer to Ukrainian.

Yulita Ran is a writer, playwright, theater director, translator, volunteer. She was born and lives in Kharkiv. She graduated from the Kharkiv Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts. Yulita Ran is the author of about 30 books for children, more than 30 plays and stage versions performed on the stages of different Ukrainian theatres. She works with several publishing houses.

A writer from Lviv, a serviceman of the 125th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces. Since August 2022, he has been on the front line in Donetsk Oblast. Author of the poetry book “Dormitory No. 6” and co-author of the anthology “Among the Sirens: New War Poems.” Some texts have been translated into seven languages.