Zoya Kazanzhy

Zoya Kazanzhy is a Ukrainian writer, essayist, journalist, and member of PEN Ukraine. Born in the Odesa region, she studied in Kyiv and has lived in Odesa for the past 36 years, a city that has shaped her ability to notice beauty in everyday details, listen closely to human stories, and appreciate the diversity of personalities and destinies. Her writing is rooted in a profound attentiveness to the individual. Rather than focusing on dramatic events, her work explores what unfolds within a person: choice, memory, love, loneliness, freedom, responsibility, dignity, and the search for identity. Her characters do not seek to conquer the world; they strive to remain true to themselves. This is why the intimate stories in her fiction resonate with universal meaning. Her long career in journalism taught her to trust facts, while literature gave her the freedom to explore what lies beyond them: human vulnerability, inner freedom, and the capacity to love, to lose, to forgive, and to begin again. Her writing is distinguished by psychological insight, emotional restraint, subtle irony, and deep respect for the reader. For Zoya Kazanzhy, writing is more than storytelling. It is a way of observing life with care, asking difficult questions, and searching for answers that help people become a little freer.

If I Were…
2014

Something Like Love
2017

Marta and Other Women
2024

Odesa: A Book Journey
2025