‘A summer with a pioneer handkerchief’: Elena and Katerina, divided by war but united by writing

There is a place where differences are riches and borders are bridges to cross. That place is literature. The story of Elena Malisova e Katerina Silvanova it could just be that of a lucky literary encounter.

Except that Elena, born Elena Prokaševa, and Katerina, real name Ekaterina Dudko, are two twenty-year-olds, one Russian and the other Ukrainian, who dream of peace under the bombs that have swept away their daily lives. If only theirs A summer with the pioneer handkerchiefand romance queer published in 2021 by the Moscow publishing house Popcorn Books and became a bestseller thanks to TikTokended up in the crosshairs of censors because it tells of homosexual love: it was withdrawn from the market, forcing the two authors, declared foreign agents, to emigrate.

But books always find their way: thanks to word of mouth on the Russian Booktok, the novel became a publishing sensation – 200 thousand copies in a few weeks – and reached kids all over the world who loved it to the point of pushing the two writers to publish a sequel. Elena, who grew up in Moscow, was forced to move to Rostock, Germany, while Katerina, who was in Russia when censorship hit the novel, decided to return to her Kharkiv, despite her fear .

While the world is shocked by the death of Putin’s opponent Alexei Navalny and in Italy Mondadori publishes the intense love story between Jura and Volodya set in a summer camp in 1986, Elena and Katerina accept an interview via email to tell their extraordinary story of sisterhood: a true act of resistance to hatred and violence.

What do you think about Navalny’s death?

Katerina: «The war is taking the lives of my loved ones and people I knew. You are yet another victim of the bloody Russian regime.”

Elena: «This murder is a tragedy. Navalny meant a lot to Russian politics, and a lot to me: it was thanks to her investigations that I became interested in politics and her 2013 rally was the first I attended.”

Russian Elena, Ukrainian Katerina: what does it mean for you?

«Nationality cannot divide us: we are on the same side. Ukraine is defending itself and protecting its territories from an invader. We didn’t want the war, and in such a terrible moment it is essential to maintain friendship. Therefore, despite everything, we continue to think about new projects.”

How did you meet?

«In 2015 in a community of digital authors. We read each other’s lyrics and discovered that we had very similar styles. We started A summer with the pioneer handkerchief in 2016″.

How important is it to talk about free, universal, genderless love?

«Requited love between two people, which does not hurt anyone, must not be subject to any rules. History teaches us that hatred and prohibitions have brought too much suffering and trouble to the world. But we can change it, we can not repeat the mistakes of the past.”

But in Russia it is a crime and the Duma, the Russian Parliament, censored the novel: what happened?

«On a single day, in May 2022, texts criticizing our book appeared in an inordinate number of pro-government media. They contained insults, hateful comments and open threats towards us. Duma deputies immediately joined the censors. The number of fans of the book must have frightened the Russian government: after all, it is proof that many people in the country still have humanitarian values ​​and ideals.”

However, literature cannot stop the bombs.

«But he can imagine anything: a better, worse or totally different world. In such dark times we struggle to read books about war, while in bright and romantic worlds, we manage to take a breath.”

Elena, what did having to leave Russia mean for you?

«This persecution took away my homeland. In a couple of days I put my clothes in my suitcase and left, leaving everything: my home, friends, projects, goals, but above all my mother. In Germany I’m starting from scratch and it’s not a walk in the park: I still have no friends here and my level of German still needs to improve. But my love for literature began with German writers and poets and I was influenced by rock and metal music.”

Katerina, how do you live in Kharkiv in this time of fear?

«When the invasion began I was in Russia. My grandmother died on the first day of the war; in the first few weeks I was connected 24 hours a day to the phone and the news. Even though I had the possibility of receiving a humanitarian visa in Germany, I returned to Kharkiv in September 2022. I had time to get used to the checkpoints, the curfew, the sirens of the air raid warnings that go off several times a day. I know what it means when an Iskander falls a hundred meters from your house, I can distinguish, based on the strength and intensity of the explosion, in which neighborhood of the city there was an explosion, I can tell if a missile or the have intercepted in flight or if it is instead a kamikaze drone. I have learned to manage my fear, but now loud noises terrify me. Kharkiv is my home, the city I love. This is where I grew up, this is where the people I love live. That’s why I stay.”

What is the feeling of young Russians and Ukrainians towards the war?

«The war destroys the present and future of the young men and women of both countries. In Russia, among the citizens against the war, who realize the horror of what is happening, there is a very high percentage of young people.”

Thanks to social media, your novel defeated censorship: do you use them?

«Psychologically it is difficult to use social media in wartime. But we follow with love what moves on TikTok about our books.”

In closing, Elena returns to Navalny’s death: «I think that this murder could reawaken an anger that will ultimately be unleashed against the regime. You can kill a man, but not his idea of ​​a free, democratic and happy future Russia.”

The book

Elena Malisova and Katerina Silvanova, A summer with a pioneer handkerchief (Mondadori, trad. Giulia De Florio, pages 456, euro 22)