Iryna Beschetnova is an author, translator, stage director, performer, and visual artist from Kharkiv. Her work focuses primarily on the war in Ukraine, experiences of displacement, and feminism.
Beschetnova holds a Master’s degree in Scenic Arts from the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture. She served as Head of the Dramaturgical Department at the Kharkiv Theatre for Children and Youth. Her plays addressing war and displacement, such as Cosmonauts and Monologues of Refugees, have been staged internationally.
In 2022, she received a stipend from the French Ministry of Culture, which led to several
interdisciplinary productions staged and performed in French theatres and at the Embassy of Ukraine in France. Alongside her artistic practice, Beschetnova is engaged in education. She founded the Viral Theater acting course in Kharkiv and has conducted workshops in France and Germany, working with diverse groups, including refugees.
In 2024, she took part in the Martin Roth-Initiative residency in Germany for Ukrainian women artists, contributing an essay and a visual work to the Goethe-Institut anthology Meaning after Loss. This work was later transformed into the video performance Woman- Artist in Wartime exhibited in the Ukrainian House in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Beschetnova’s poetry and prose have appeared in Ukrainian and international magazines. In 2025, she published her debut poetry collection, 200 Grams of Poetry (as Iryna Nova), released in Ukraine and in French self-translation in France and Belgium.
Residence(s):
- AR-Porvoo (2025)
