Oleh Sentsov is a Ukranian filmmaker and writer from Crimea, best known for his 2011 film Gamer. Sentsov was arrested in May 2014 in Crimea on suspicion of “plotting terrorist acts,” after participating in the EuroMaidan demonstrations that led to the overthrow of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and helping deliver supplies to trapped Ukrainian troops during Russia’s occupation of Crimea. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, causing an outcry by international human rights groups who condemned his imprisonment as a fabrication by the Russian government in an attempt to silence dissent, and calling for investigations into reports of torture and witness coercion. In 2017 he was given the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. Sentsov’s work includes several scripts, plays, and essays, as well as two short films, A Perfect Day for Bananafish and The Horn of the Bull. In May of 2018, he went on a hunger strike to protest the incarceration of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia. Dr. Uilleam Blacker is an academic and translator specializing in Ukrainian, Polish and Russian literature. His translations of contemporary Ukrainian literature have appeared in numerous publications, including Modern Poetry in Translation, Words Without Borders and Dalkey Archive's Best European Fiction series.

"One thing that makes Life Went on Anyway especially endearing is Sentsov’s terrible sense of humor on every second page...One gets the seriousness of humor, its therapeutic and satirical roles, upon realizing that jokes have made room in the somber confines of prison walls. This is the reason why Life Went on Anyway is a must-read testimony of the indomitable human spirit that is beyond the reach of fascist regimes. The translation of this memoir into English is a deserved celebration of this unwavering human spirit against all odds." ―Shelly Bhoil, Asymptote