Hanna Ustynova was born in Kyiv and graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Lviv National Ivan Franko University (emphasis in literary work in the media). Hanna worked as a journalist, copywriter, and editor. Since 2016, she works as a communication manager. Hanna provided PR support (both in Ukraine and abroad) for such projects as Odesa International Film Festival, Ukrainian Film Academy, TABASCO Creative Agency, educational startup Headway (Genesis ecosystem). She joined PEN Ukraine team in April 2023. Being a communications & partnerships lead Hanna became a Deputy executive director at PEN Ukraine in February 2025. The author of the project People of Culture Taken Away By The War. Hanna writes short prose and plays. She is a finalist of the Actual Play Week-2017 festival and a participant of the First Drama Lab on the initiative of the National Union of Theater Workers in 2019-2020. Hanna’s plays were staged in Kyiv independent theaters such as Splash (2017), Theater Laboratory (2018-2019) and Luhansk Regional Academic Ukrainian Musical Drama Theater in Siverskodonetsk (2020-2022). Her poetry was included into the Anthology of Maidan Verses (2014). Hanna is a co-screenwriter of the short film Last Summer (director Andranik Berberian), presented in the competition program at the Molodist Film Festival in 2015. Erasmus+ fellow in the city of Szczecin, Poland (2014-2015).
