 Maria Matios bases her books on the unique experiences of her family, whose roots go back as far as 1790.She was the winner of the "Book of the Year 2004" prize and of the Taras Shevchenko National Award in 2005 (for her novel "Sweet Darusia").Matios was placed at number 2 on the electoral list of UDAR during the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.