Oleksandra Matviichuk (Kyiv, 1983) has been chosen for the ARA newspaper's International Award "for her courageous defense of human rights and the freedoms of the Ukrainian people in the face of Russian military aggression," according to the justification for the award, which in its first edition last year went to the Greek-Swedish writer Theodor Kallifatides. While back then the figure of a Mediterranean migrant welcomed and integrated into the continental north, and turned into a literary and humanist benchmark, was highlighted, now the award goes to a prominent figure and the Center for Civil Liberties that she directs. Oleksandra Matviichuk and the aforementioned center have been—and are—crucial in the Ukrainian struggle for self-defense, a struggle in which all of Europe's democratic destiny is at stake.

We reproduce below the speech that the Greek-Swedish writer Theodor Kallifatides gave at the Palau de la Música on Thursday, November 27, when he was awarded the first Diari ARA International Prize as part of the celebration of the newspaper's 15th anniversary.

We met the Greek-Swedish writer Theodor Kallifatides by the Mediterranean Sea, at the Club Natació Barceloneta. At 87, he walks with agility. It's a sunny day; people are at the outdoor pools and on the beach. At the end of the interview, Xavier Bertral, the photographer and a keen reader of his work, explains that his daughter Emma once, when referring to the typical sugary Greek sweet... kourabieHe asked, "Can I have a caliphate?" Theodor was charmed by the anecdote. And so we said goodbye... We had previously spoken for an hour about the twelve Olympian gods and, through them, about a present marked by the eternal problems of the human condition: war and peace, love and hate, jealousy and hope. The writer, who emigrated to Sweden at the age of 25 and became a successful author there and in the Swedish language—we conducted the interview in English, but he also speaks French, Italian, Spanish, and German—will receive the first Diari ARA International Prize on Thursday, November 27, at the Palau de la Música.