Charlotte Higgins talks to Rosie Boycott

What happens to art when it becomes a matter of life or death? As chief culture writer of the Guardian, Charlotte Higgins never imagined she would report on a war. But in the autumn of 2022, seven months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she travelled there to find out how artists and writers were reflecting the devastation of their daily lives.

Drawing on two decades of cultural journalism, three years of reporting trips to Ukraine and her training as a classicist, Charlotte explores the profound connections between war, art and life in her book Ukrainian Lessons: Art in a Time of War. In a conflict that threatens the very existence of Ukrainian culture, Higgins talks to journalist and cross-bench peer Rosie Boycott about what artists are prepared to risk – and why culture is worth fighting for.