Ukrainian Author Artem Chapay’s War Memoir Named One of 2025’s Best Books by The Washington Post

The Washington Post has named Artem Chapay’s Ordinary People Don’t Carry Machine Guns one of the best nonfiction books of 2025.

According to the outlet’s description, the book follows “a Ukrainian man and father who considered himself a pacifist ” but ultimately decided he could not remain on the sidelines while Russia invaded his country. The publication notes that Chapay reflects philosophically on the devastation he witnessed and reveals what war looks like for people “who weren’t born to be fighters.”

As repoprted by Suspilne Culture, Chapay has said he wrote the book specifically for an international readership—essentially as a guide to help foreign audiences understand Ukraine’s reality. The work was first released in France, where Bayard published it in February 2024, and readers there have described it as deeply affecting.

In February 2024, Le Monde published a review of the book, noting that it is a story about how war transforms a person—and how unpredictable that transformation can be.

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The Washington Post’s list includes 50 nonfiction titles published in English throughout the year. The English edition, Ordinary People Don’t Carry Machine Guns: Thoughts on War, was released in April by the independent US publisher Seven Stories Press and translated by Zenya Tompkins, an American of Ukrainian heritage. In Ukraine, the book was published by Vydavnytstvo 21.

Earlier, it was reported that in 2025, three Ukrainian works centered on wartime experiences are set to be published in French translation: a poetry collection by Artur Dron, a play by Natalka Vorozhbyt, and a short story collection by Serhiy Zhadan.

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