Ruslana is the author of From Borsch to Burgers, a cross-cultural memoir chronicling her journey from Ukraine to the Upper Midwest, sharing stories from her Soviet childhood and describing her initial adjustments in her new culture in the U.S.  She is also an author of many poems features in Red Fern and Protest Poems and other places.  She used writing to process the Russian invasion of her homeland and the Poety tab features some of those poems of 2022, the year of the full-scale invasion.  

She believes that everyone has a story ready to be unleashed into a full-blown book.  She wrote hers so that the children of her children and the generations that follow have a written account of their ancestors.  She encourages everyone to have the “urgency of memory” and write down their story for the sake of future generations.  Her urgency comes from losing her grandfather, her grandmother, her sister, and her mother because as her people passed, their histories were leaving with them.  For that reason, Ruslana encourages people to rush to capture their stories because our memories fade.  Ruslana’s particular calling is to support and encourage immigrant women to tell their stories.  

Her website provides additional resources mentioned in the book such as recipes, discussion questions for your book clubs, and advice for aspiring memoirists, and videos of author and contributing authors read excerpts from the book.

*The header image features one of the rallies Ruslana organized by the Wisconsin State Capitol when the full-scale invasion started.