The desperation amidst chaos, the shattered lives, the endurance of trauma – few of us know the immediacy of war.

Writing of these realities and their aftermath is an intimidating task, yet these authors do so with empathy and a steady hand.

From an unnamed region shaped by revolution and war in Yumna’s Politica, to a story of freedom and oppression honouring those currently fighting in Ukraine in Misha’s The Sun Will Rise, these novels show us the broken communities and everyday bravery beyond the bombing.

Led by Catherine McKinnon, whose latest breathtaking novel To Sing of War charts disparate lives at the close of WWII, this will be a stirring conversation of mortality, struggle, and the lengths we go to for our humanity.