In this 2011 interview, Valya Dudycz Lupescu discusses her debut novel, The Silence of Trees, a story that moves between post–World War II Ukraine and contemporary America. Drawing on years of interviews with elders who had never spoken about their wartime experiences, she explores the fear‑driven silences, cultural traditions, and fragmented memories carried by the Ukrainian diaspora.
We talk about the real histories that informed her fictional heroine, the trauma and secrecy surrounding displaced‑persons camps, and the complex reasons so many immigrants chose not to speak about their past. Valya also reflects on the novel’s early reception, including its success in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition and the strong support from Ukrainian communities worldwide.
This conversation from 2011 lands differently in 2026. The forces shaping her story haven’t disappeared; they’ve re‑emerged, making this discussion newly relevant.