
Confession of a poet after a year of war
If you think of yourself as a poet or a poetess and you are considering taking this path seriously, most likely sooner or later you will ask yourself this question: what can I do for poetry?
William Shakespeare.
Kurt Vonnegut.
John Tolkien.
Taras Shevchenko.
Lesya Ukrainka.
Serhiy Zhadan.
Tove Jansson.
Astrid Lindgren.
Roald Dahl.
An ordinary bookshelf somewhere in Ukraine.
Judging by the book spines, the resident of this apartment is the most ordinary person interested in literature. If the books are lined up on the bookshelves in orderly rows, curated by subjects, it means that person loves books. And if the books are beautiful, and there are many of them in this ordinary apartment, they are clearly much valued here.
The emergency grab bags that Ukrainians have packed since February 24 contained various things. Often, there were books in those bags. Old books passed down from generation to generation. Thick novels and poetry collections. All kinds of books.
I spend a long time drawing up a list of contemporary books, must-haves for every Ukrainian library. I make a poll on Instagram Stories among my followers and add new titles to the list. Who knows how many books one needs to make up for their previous life?
Since the big war broke out, libraries with Ukrainian books have opened across countries. “Hi,” a friend of mine texts me. “Could you please send me a list of books that Ukrainians find important? I need it for a library opening in the Netherlands.” She is a writer with a novel to her name.
“Hello,” another friend of mine emails me. “A Ukrainian library is scheduled to open in Luxembourg.” He is a publisher and a curator of the parliamentary book club.
Ukrainian book is packing a suitcase. A long journey lies ahead.
Meanwhile, reports are coming from Ukraine: 101 libraries have lost part of their collections; 21 libraries lost their entire collections. Missile strikes have destroyed books from home libraries that will never be included in the official statistics of destroyed bookshelves.
My dear friend is now living in Amsterdam. She is a children’s author and a publisher. The books she has written in Ukraine have already been delivered to her new place abroad. She feels uncomfortable without her books.
The emergency grab bags that Ukrainians have packed since February 24 contained various things. Often, there were books in those bags. Old books passed down from generation to generation. Thick novels and poetry collections. All kinds of books.
I am standing in front of my home library in Kyiv. It is large.
A mobile app sends me an air raid alert. 123 days of full-scale war. I wonder about the size of a suitcase that could fit all our books signed by contemporary Ukrainian writers. It should be bottomless, I guess.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 121 public libraries in Ukraine have been damaged. The number of destroyed bookshelves in private apartments is still unknown.
Author: Svitlana Stretovych, Ukrainian essayist, program director of Litosvita
Translator: Hanna Leliv
Illustrator: Victoria Boyko
Content Editor: Maryna Korchaka
Programme Directors: Julia Ovcharenko and Demyan Om Dyakiv Slavitski
If you think of yourself as a poet or a poetess and you are considering taking this path seriously, most likely sooner or later you will ask yourself this question: what can I do for poetry?
Few weeks ago (mid January it was)* I took part in a writer’s conference with other international writers in Kolkata, India. It was a panel discussion addressing the topic of “Writing for the post-pandemic world”.
The morning begins with a final farewell to a soldier in our yard. He died in the war. A message about this appeared in the neighbor chat yesterday, indicating the building number and the entrance. High-rise buildings, just like low-rise ones, can’t avoid loss in wartime. There are more than 800 apartments in our building. Is there at least one unaffected by the war?
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Програми Культурного Хабу реалізуються завдяки потужності та обороноздатності Збройних Сил України, через волю, професійну і фінансову участь наших мемберів та інституційних партнерів з 2022 року: European Cultural Foundation, MitOst e.V., BBK Landesverband Bayern e.V., Київської Бієнале.
Ми також глибоко вдячні всім тим колегам — культурним дипломатам — із ким ще не знайомі особисто, але відчуваємо та цінуємо вплив вашої праці.
The programmes of the Cultural Hub are being implemented thanks to the power and defense capacity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, through the will, professional and financial participation of our members, as well as institutional partners since 2022: European Cultural Foundation, MitOst e.V., BBK Landesverband Bayern e.V., and Kyiv Biennial.
We’re also deeply grateful to all those colleagues — cultural diplomats — who we don’t know personally so far, but we feel and appreciate the impact of your work.
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