About

Mariya, the founder of this website, was born and raised in Lviv, where she still lives today in a small apartment filled with books, plants, and the quiet company of her cat, Chernyk — a black stray who chose her as his family one snowy winter. She studied engineering at university, but after the Ukrainian crisis in 1991 she was forced to change careers, learning to adapt and rebuild her life from the ground up.
She has been married for over fifty years, and together with her husband raised a daughter who now helps her shape her stories and bring them to readers, including creating and managing this website.
The recent years of war have brought Mariya new lessons: how to adapt without losing herself, how to find moments of peace between air raid sirens, and how to see beauty even when the world feels broken.
Through her writing, Mariya shares the quiet strength of everyday life — the way a well-swept floor, a pot of tea, or a sleeping cat can carry as much meaning as any grand event. Her stories are not only her own, but an offering of hope to those who read them.