A young graduate only six months into his dream job joins the 125th Territorial Defence Brigade of the Ukrainian Army in February 2022. Going off to war to defend his loved ones from the Russians, Dron' came to understand that the Ukrainian experience differs fundamentally from that of writer-combatants of the past. Hemingway Knows Nothing is part memoir, part memorial to lost comrades and a timely reminder that frontline soldiers have complex inner lives.
 
Artur Dron’ is best known as a poet and veteran. His second collection, We Were Here [Jantar 2024] was described as ‘beguiling and ironic’ in the TLS. Hemingway Knows Nothing, his first collection of prose, was published in Ukraine in 2025 where it became an instant bestseller.
 
Hanna Leliv is a literary translator from Ukraine. She was a Fulbright Scholar at University of Iowa and Translator-in-Residence at Princeton.