Diaries of War Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine and Russia [A Graphic History]

Powerful graphic journalism that brings to life diary entries of a Ukrainian journalist and a Russian artist grappling with the on-the-ground realities of Putin’s war—by Nora Krug, National Book Critics Circle Award winner and New York Times bestselling illustrator of the On Tyranny adaptation, with a foreword by award-winning historian Timothy Snyder

Immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nora Krug connected with two anonymous subjects—“K.,” a Ukrainian journalist, and “D.,” a Russian artist—and began what would become a year of correspondence. Diaries of War transforms Krug’s weekly communications with K. and D. into an intimate, illustrated epistolary format. 

In both the graphic adaptation of Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny and Krug’s own memoir, Belonging, Krug touched on difficult, contentious topics, from personal and societal identity to political conflict and more, with immense skill and compassion. She brings the same moving thoughtfulness to this collection. With millions of Ukrainians displaced, injured, or killed as a result of the conflict, Krug provides a personal look at the sorrowful effects of war on an individual level—such as loss of resources, emotional and existential distress, displacement and disconnection. 

Published as an Op-Comic with the Los Angeles Times, with some entries unique to the book, Diaries of War is a harrowing record of a heart-wrenching historical event that devastated the modern world and continues to alter countless lives.

Nora Krug is the author and illustrator of the graphic memoir Belonging, the illustrator of adaptation of On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, and an associate professor at Parsons School of Design in New York. Her drawings and visual narratives have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, and Le Monde diplomatique. Her short-form graphic biography, Kamikaze, about a surviving Japanese World War II pilot, was included in editions of Best American Comics and Best American Nonrequired Reading. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Maurice Sendak Foundation, Fulbright, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and has received gold medals from the Society of Illustrators and the New York Art Directors Club. She was named Illustrator of the Year by the Victoria and Albert Museum and was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography in 2019.