03.02.2026

“I Wrote About Home Sitting in a Basement”: Sofiia’s Story

Sofiia Konieva is from New York, Donetsk region. It is a small town she describes as incredibly beautiful and deeply dear to her. She remembers sitting in a basement and writing poems about injustice, about love, about her hometown. Rhyme became a way for her to process and express her emotions.

Sofiia has been living through war for ten years. When it first began, she was still very young. At the time, her family was abroad when relatives called to say, “We’re under shelling.” Despite that, her parents made the decision to return. Their home was there.

The first time she consciously experienced shelling was in 2017, in her grandmother’s village. She was very scared. In 2022, the roads came under such intense attack that leaving felt like a gamble — a 50–50 chance. You either make it, or you don’t. They took the risk.

After that, Sofiia’s poems changed. She began to write about the longing for peace, about the desire for a normal life, about not understanding why any of this was happening. Many of her poems were written in the basement — poems about love, about shared feelings, about war.

Language, for her, is a way to understand the world more deeply. She chose to study philology because she wanted to learn languages and explore other cultures. Now, she is 18, and she is a student at a pedagogical university in Odesa. She also dreams of becoming a director and screenwriter. And she plays the guitar when inspiration comes.

In Odesa, her writing shifted again. She began to write about home, longing for it, the desire to return, and how she hadn’t valued it before.

I want to go back home so much — to my own room, where I feel safe and at ease, where I don’t hear the sound of shelling. I want to go home, where my mom knits on the couch, where my dad is doing something outside, and the cat has its face covered in sour cream. I want to wake up with the sunrise, smell fresh grass, hear a rooster crowing, make a cup of coffee, and feel the simple happiness of being home,

she says.

In 2024, Sofiia became one of 15 participants in the course “Writing with Elements of Art Therapy,” led by the Voices of Children Foundation together with writer Olia Rusina. The group attended a residency in the Carpathian Mountains, where they were able to reconnect offline, find inspiration, and discuss their creative ideas and plans.

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The course became a place of strength for me. Here, I truly feel free. It makes me want to create, to do something meaningful, to meet new people, to try something new. When I first came here, it felt like visiting my grandmother. This is where I slowly began to recover, where I felt alive again, and realized that things aren’t as bad as they seem,

she says.

From the course, she took inspiration, motivation, and a renewed desire to live and create. Now Sofiia knows for certain that she is a creative person. And she has also realized something important: strength is not about enduring everything alone. It is about being able to ask for help in time and admit when you are struggling. Because when everyone is only for themselves, no one is left.

I lost myself once. And now I’ve found myself again. And I know for sure that I will lose myself again many times. But I know that I will find my way back,

Sofiia shares.

Listen to her story.

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