International Communication & Negotiation Simulations Project (ICONS) simulation developer and senior researcher Ron Capps wrote Writing War: A Guide to Telling Your Own Story to help veterans and their family members articulate their experiences through writing. For over a decade, Ron's book has been the curriculum for the Veterans Writing Project workshops, founded by Ron in 2011, and has been used in numerous DoD and VA facilities including the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE).
Capps was approached by Oksana Schur, international programs curator at the Arsenal Book Festival in Kyiv, about two years ago to attend the festival and potentially publish Writing War in Ukraine. Although the festival was cancelled due to COVID, Ukrainian press Smoloskyp and translator Olga Pogynaiko agreed to translate and publish the book in Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine in the months that followed yet, despite the invasion, Smoloskyp director Rostyslav Semkiv and translator Pogynakio continued to work.
Capps has donated all royalties from the sale of the book in Ukraine to Smoloskyp with the agreement that those funds be used to provide the book at no cost to Ukrainian fighters and others engaged in the defense of their homeland. Writing War is now available in Ukraine, in Ukrainian here.
A special thank you to Ron Capps for the amazing work he does within and outside of ICONS, and for agreeing to let us share a snippet of his story.
A version of this article originally appeared in the ICONS July 2022 newsletter.