Your Presence is Mandatory by Sasha Vasilyuk

Sasha Vasilyuk will discuss her historical fiction novel Your Presence Is Mandatory about a Ukrainian Jewish war veteran with a lifelong secret and his family that lives under its shadow in the Donbas. She will talk about the unknown story of Soviet Jewish POWs, what she saw in the Donbas during the early years of the war in Ukraine, and how family history can combat misinformation.

Sasha Vasilyuk is a journalist and author of a debut novel, Your Presence is Mandatory (Bloomsbury), which will also be published in Italy, France, Germany, Israel, Finland and Brazil. Sasha grew up between Ukraine and Russia before immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 13. She has a BA from UC Berkeley and an MA in journalism from New York University. She has written about Eastern Europe for the New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, CNN, Time, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and children.