Anna Bezpala

Anna Bezpala (2004) is a young Ukrainian writer and student. She had her first work published at age 16 in the anthology Izoliatsiia (2021), featuring finalists of the Antytvir contest organized by the Book Arsenal Festival. In May 2025, her debut historical fiction novel Кассандра курить папіроси (Cassandra Is Smoking Cigarettes) was published. The book quickly garnered critical acclaim, earning a longlist nomination for the BBC Ukraine Book of the Year Prize 2025, and spots on both PEN Ukraine's Best Fiction of the Year list and Chytomo’s Picks 2025 for best Ukrainian prose. In November 2025, Anna made her English-language debut with At Home in Groningen: A Walking Tour of the City, a travel guide commissioned by the Dutch publisher Passage and edited by Slovak author Emma Urbanová. Currently, Anna is a member of the Ukrainian author team for the CELA (Connecting Emerging Literary Artists) programme and is completing a traineeship at the EU Fundamental Rights Agency FRA in Vienna.