Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Calendar
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36-37
38-39
40
“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛИПЕНЬ - СЕРПЕНЬ 2019 WWW. UNWLA .ORG 9 An Afternoon of Poetry and Echoes from the Past In April of this year, Yale University Press published What We L ive For, What We Die For — a col- lection of selected poems of Serhiy Zhadan in English translation. The translators were Virlana Tkacz (founder of Yara Arts Group and director of numerous theatrical productions seen by audiences in New York City’s La MaMa The atre, in assorted diaspora communities, in several cities in Ukraine and even in Mongolia) and long - time Yara Arts Group member Wanda Phipps. The fifty poems w ere chosen by Ms. Tkacz and include selections from Mr. Zhadan’s work from 2001 to 2015. The book is arranged in reverse chronological order, starting with poems inspired by the war in Donetsk and ending with a poem written in 2001 about the arrests of wri ters in the Slovo Building in Kharkiv in the 1930s. In mid - April, I attended an event at the P hila del- phia area’s Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center , an event featuring poet Serhiy Zhadan, members of Yara Arts Group, and pianists An- thony Coleman and Fima Chupakin . During the program Mr. Zhadan recited the original Ukrain- ian version of severa l poems included in What We Li ve For, What We Die For . English trans- lations were then recited by members of Yara Arts Group. The recitations were accom panied by effec- tive but unobtrusive background music provided by pianists Anthony Coleman and Fima Chupa khin. The featured poems were a reflection of the turmoil and turbulence of a country under siege, of lives turned upside down, of war and pov- erty and shattered relationships, of displacement and replacement, of longing and despair, and quiet hints of hope that things might get better. During the final segment of the program, Mr. Zhadan re- cited several of his new poems, introducing them with a jocular comment that “these haven’t been translated yet. ” Following the formal program, attendees had the opportun ity to converse with Mr. Zhada n and the other performers. I took advantage of th is opportunity to chat briefly with Ms. Tkacz and then spoke with Mr. Zhadan about Kharkiv and my visit to the city in 1989, two year s before Ukraine proclaimed its independenc e from the Soviet Un- ion. I rel ated to the poet my encounter and con ver- sations with a group of dissidents who were pro- testing against the government’s attempts to re- strict (and even eradicate) the Ukrainian lan guage in the city. Turns out Mr. Zhadan had p ersonally known the man leadin g this protest, Stepan Sape- liak . I was much sadden ed when he told me that Mr. Sapeliak was d ead . The news took me on a trip down memory lane and prompted a mission to dis- cover exactly when Mr. Sapeliak had died. In the weeks that followed my 1989 visit to Ukraine, I wrote numerous articles for The Ukra - inian Weekly , including one about the dissident s I had met in Kharkiv, an article which editor - in - chief Roma Hadzewycz graciously featur ed on the front page of the August 20, 1 989 issue. In the days that followed the performance of Mr. Zhadan and Yara, I learned (with the help of Ms. Hadze wycz and so me additional help from Google’s search en- gine) that Mr. Sapeliak had died on February 1, 2012. The search and discovery miss ion also in- spired me to peruse an old album with photo- graphs of that long ago trip to Ukraine and the peo- ple I had met in Kharkiv. I also rediscovered a framed graphic that has been hanging in plain sight for several decades and is noticed by me only when someone visiting the house sees it and asks about it. The artwork is a gift from artist Valeriy Bondar (one of the dissidents I had met in 1989) — a stark black and white illustration of a soldier cra- dling the lifeless body of a comrade. The words Героям Сла ва (Glory to the Heroes) appear at the top left corner of the illustration. The artist’s signature app ears on the lower right, and a person- alized and dated note from the artist to a much younger me appears on the lower left. – tsc
Page load link
Go to Top
1 
2-3 
4-5 
6-7 
8-9 
10-11 
12-13 
14-15 
16-17 
18-19 
20-21 
22-23 
24-25 
26-27 
28-29 
30-31 
32-33 
34-35 
36-37 
38-39 
40 
