Anna Badkhen
From 6 June to 8 July 2025

Anna Badkhen was born and grew up in the Soviet Union before being able to emigrate to the United States. She is a journalist, writer, and teacher of creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania. Her writing about civilians in war zones as a former war correspondent was singled out for a Joel R. Seldin Award from Psychologists for Social Responsibility. She is regularly published in The New York Review of Books, Granta, Harper’s Magazine, and The New York Times. She is the author of seven books, including Bright Unbearable Reality (New York Review of Books, 2022), a collection of essays on migration and social links in a period of geopolitical conflicts. It was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award and the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize.