Olena (Alyona, Milena) Maksakowa was born in Kharkov. She studied History of Russian Literature at KSU. Her writing was published in various publications, including Articulation, ROAR, Harpy Hybrid Review, Golden Fleece, etc. She is a co-organizer of the festival Hanover Spring and of Heavenly Kharkiv, a Zoom project. She is an editor of the anti-war website Tochka.Zreniya and the author of Little Diary. She has lived in Germany since 2002.