On October 29, 2026, a creative evening with Anna Andrienko will take place in Tel Aviv. She is the founder of the Ukrainian restaurant SHO?, an entrepreneur, and one of the organizers of Ukrainian public initiatives in Israel. This time, the occasion for the meeting will be her poetry collection ‘Born to Win’. Guests will hear poems, personal stories, and for the first time, a song written to Anna’s words.
Author: Elena Gunko
The presentation will take place at the SHO? restaurant on Carlebach Street, 3, well-known to the Tel Aviv community. It starts at 19:00, and the participation fee is 150 shekels. The ticket includes a book signed by the author, a glass of sparkling drink, and a light buffet. Reservations must be made in advance.
In an invitation published on October 10 on Facebook, Anna warned that she does not intend to hold an official presentation with long speeches. She wants to tell a story she previously entrusted to paper — about people, meetings, childhood, love, war, and losses. And about why, after everything she has experienced, she continues to believe that much is still possible ahead.
‘Born to Win’: what Anna decided to tell through poetry
‘Every book has a story. And sometimes the book is the story,’ writes Anna Andrienko.
From her announcement, it is clear that specific events and experiences stand behind the poems. Some of them, the author admits, are easier to put on paper than to say aloud. Therefore, on October 29, an ordinary conversation about how the book was created is unlikely to happen. Anna plans to read poems, return to memories, and leave room for music and pauses.
In the invitation, she quotes the lines:
‘There will still be joy and sorrow,
and many different losses,
but again, as in childhood, she laughs —
born to win.’
These are poems about a person who knows the price of losses but does not agree to give up joy. However, it would be premature to draw conclusions about the entire collection from a few lines: the content of the book has not yet been fully presented.
One of Anna’s planned features for the evening is light and semi-darkness. According to her, there will be little light and a lot of semi-darkness. In such an atmosphere, stories will be told that she previously preferred to write about.
There will also be a musical premiere. Singer Diana will perform a song to Anna Andrienko’s words for the first time. The singer’s surname and the title of the composition were not mentioned in the invitation.
The publisher, print run, and number of poems in the collection are still unknown. However, each visitor to the evening will receive a copy with the author’s autograph.
Anna Andrienko: from economist to founder of a Ukrainian restaurant
Many of those who will come on October 29 know Anna primarily for the restaurant SHO? – Ukrainian Traditional Food. However, the history of this establishment began quite unexpectedly.
On July 9, 2025, in the podcast ‘Balachki’ on the UDM Israel channel, Anna talked about how she took up the restaurant business after working as an economist. A former karaoke club in Tel Aviv gradually turned into a Ukrainian cuisine restaurant and then into a place where Ukrainians began to meet for various reasons.
NANews has already introduced readers to this story in the article ‘SHO? — how trials, faith, and support turned the restaurant into a place of strength for Ukrainians in Israel’.
In the interview, Anna talked about business difficulties, periods of military restrictions, transitioning to delivery and takeaway food. Behind these quite practical decisions was the desire to preserve the establishment and the people who worked and gathered there.
Today, SHO? prepares borscht, varenyky, deruny, and other Ukrainian dishes. The interior is decorated with traditional embroidered towels — decorative cloths that are often passed down from generation to generation in Ukrainian families. Gastronomic evenings and cultural meetings are held here, and the ‘Territory of Show’ and ‘Odessa Courtyard’ projects are developing.
For those from Ukraine who have long lived in Israel, such a place is associated with memories of home. For Israelis, previously little familiar with Ukrainian traditions, the restaurant has become another way to discover the culture of a country with which Israel is connected by the history of Jewish families and several generations of repatriation.
SVOYA, Ukrainian traditions, and meetings in Tel Aviv
In May 2026, Anna Andrienko, together with Anna Zharova, organized the women’s business club SVOYA (‘Own’). The project was created for Ukrainian businesswomen in Israel — women who develop their own businesses, seek partners, exchange experiences, and help each other.
Anna Zharova is also known as the co-founder of the public organization ‘Israeli Friends of Ukraine’. The first meeting of the new club was scheduled for May 24 at the SHO? restaurant. More about this initiative was told by the editorial team in the article ‘SVOYA: in Israel, the creation of a Ukrainian women’s business club was announced’.
In October, the restaurant again welcomes guests to events related to Ukrainian culture. On October 22, a Hutsul banosh evening is planned here — a traditional dish of the Hutsuls, an ethnocultural group from the Carpathians. Banosh is made from corn grits with sour cream or cream, often served with brynza and cracklings. The program includes the participation of Anna Andrienko, Lyudmila Polenok, and Maria Geshko.
And a week later, on October 29, the restaurant’s owner will come out to the guests with her book. Moreover, this will be a completely different conversation — about experiences that she has so far shared mainly in poems.
Ukrainian poetry in Israel: a conversation understandable to different generations
Hundreds of thousands of people live in Israel whose family histories are connected with Ukraine. Some arrived during the great aliyah of the 1990s — the mass repatriation of Jews from the former USSR. Others moved later, and some Ukrainians found themselves here after the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
For some, the Ukrainian language and culture are an everyday part of life, for others — memories of parents, grandparents. The experiences of these people are different. Some have personally experienced the war, while others observe what is happening from Israel, supporting relatives and friends in Ukraine.
And I think that interest in the upcoming evening may extend beyond Anna’s circle of acquaintances. In personal poetry, people who have never met the author often find their own words. Especially when it comes to separation, memory, fear of losing loved ones, and the need to continue living.
For NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency, such meetings are also interesting in how Ukrainian culture becomes part of modern Israeli life. It sounds here in concerts, books, conversations, and appears in new public projects. And not only thanks to large organizations: much is held on the initiative of individuals.
Anna Andrienko already has such a story — with a restaurant that unites visitors at one table. Now there is a book with which she invites to a conversation.
Where and when the presentation of ‘Born to Win’ will take place
Date: Thursday, October 29, 2026.
Start: 19:00.
Place: SHO? – Ukrainian Traditional Food restaurant.
Address: Carlebach St 3, Tel Aviv-Yafo (רחוב קרליבך 3, תל אביב).
Ticket price: 150 ₪.
Includes: a copy of the poetry collection ‘Born to Win’ signed by Anna Andrienko, a glass of sparkling drink, and a light buffet.
Advance booking: required, limited seating.
Restaurant contact phone: 058-607-6070. When contacting, specify the reservation for the creative evening on October 29.
Organizers’ pages:
Anna Andrienko’s personal announcement on Facebook.
SHO? – Ukrainian Traditional Food on Facebook.
‘There will still be everything’
At the end of the invitation, Anna Andrienko returns to words that seem to have special meaning for her: ‘There will still be everything’.
She does not explain in advance what exactly she means by this phrase. She only writes that during the meeting she will try to explain why she still believes in it.
Perhaps this is the main intrigue of the evening. Guests will receive a book, hear poems and a new song. But behind all this lies another question, to which each person answers in their own way: how to maintain hope after losses?
Anna’s answer will be heard on October 29, 2026, in Tel Aviv.