2025–26 Humanities Institute Book Award Ceremony

The Humanities Institute Book Award celebrates outstanding writers whose contributions to the humanities change the conversation by fostering new directions for their discipline. Professor Darya Tsymbalyuk’s "Ecocide in Ukraine: The Environmental Cost of Russia's War" is the 2026 award winner.

Following the book award ceremony, Darya Tsymbalyuk will give a lecture on her book. Light refreshments will be served.

Please note the event times:

• 3:30 – 4 p.m. | Book sale
• 4:00 – 5 p.m. | Ceremony, followed by a lecture and Q&A
• 5:00 – 6 p.m. | Reception, book sale and book signing

About the book

Russia's war on Ukraine has not only destroyed millions of human lives, it has also been catastrophic for the environment. Forests and fields have been burned to the ground, animal and plant species pushed to the brink of extinction, soil and water contaminated with oil products, debris, and mines. In this poignant book, Ukrainian researcher Darya Tsymbalyuk offers an intimate portrait of her beloved homeland against the backdrop of Russia's war and ecocide.

Serhii Plokhy, author of “Chernobyl Roulette: A War Story,” shares, “Darya Tsymbalyuk’s is a powerful voice that speaks not only on behalf of millions of Ukrainians whose life was turned upside down by the Russian aggression against their homeland but also on behalf of the nature that has been destroyed by the war. A personal and powerful testimony on the destruction that still goes on.” 

About the author

Darya Tsymbalyuk is an interdisciplinary scholar whose practice includes writing and image-making. Most of Tsymbalyuk’s work lies at the intersection of environmental humanities and artistic research, but she has also written on embodied knowledge, coloniality of knowledge and colonial legacies, whiteness, (post)industrial heritage and visual arts. While rooted in Ukraine, Tsymbalyuk’s work stretches beyond national borders with an interest in the broader region of Eastern Europe and in different places and spaces that have shared experiences of Russian imperial subjugation, from Central Asia to the Baltic states.

The Melikian Center is a co-sponsor of this event.

For a full listing of all the Humanities Institute events visit our events page.