Taylor Institution, Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK
15 May - 21 June 2025
The Role of Literature in the Time of War
Event on 19 June 2025
Francesca Teal, winner of the Sunflower Stories Competition, is reading her poem.
Original pieces were on display at the event.
The event had a packed schedule, with opening remarks by Professor Polly Jones from the Faculty of Mediaeval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford, and Nick Hearn, Subject Librarian, French and Slavonic Languages & Literatures, at the Taylor Institution Library, Bodleian Libraries. The story of how the Sunflower Dreams Project started followed.
Next on the agenda was a conversation with Ulana Suprun, Editor-in-Chief of The Black Sea Whale and former Health Minister of Ukraine, with a short Q&A session at the end. The event continued with a story of a British volunteer who went to Ukraine to deliver humanitarian aid.
Students from the university beautifully read Ukrainian poetry [translated]. Works by Lesia Ukrainka, Lina Kostenko, Serhiy Zhadan, Halyna Kruk, Natalka Bilotserkivets were read.
The last item was a short presentation of the future events and plans within the Sunflower Dreams Project. Ulana Suprun and Anca Marin of Sunflower Dreams Project presented the prize to the winner of the Sunflower Stories competition, Francesca Teal.
The evening ended with a reception with fine Ukrainian wine.
Gift for the Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy
25 June 2025
The Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy received on 25 June 2025 an Oxford University honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at the University’s Encaenia degree ceremony. On the following day, a Formal dinner was hosted by Professor Lionel Tarassenko CB, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Reuben College, University of Oxford. At the dinner, both Plokhy and Tarassenko have received a gift from Oxford University Ukrainian Society and the Sunflower Dreams Project.
