BRAMA, Sep 2, 2004, 11:00 am ET
Press Release
English translations of Ukrainian literature now available online
The birth of a new journal of English translations of Ukrainian literature
was announced on the internet on the day when Ukraine was celebrating its 13th
anniversary of independence. The sponsor and publisher of this journal is the
Shevchenko Scientific Society in the U.S.
It is an event of historical significance and far-reaching implications.
UKRAINIAN LITERATURE: A JOURNAL OF TRANSLATIONS first made its appearance on the
internet at two electronic sites: www.shevchenko.org and
www.UkrainianLiterature.org. The journal will also be published as a printed copy. It is the
first English language journal devoted to Ukrainian literature ever and the
first Ukrainian literary periodical publication on the internet. The editor of
this journal is Maxim Tarnawsky, professor of Ukrainian literature at the
University of Toronto. The international editorial board consists of professors
Marko Pavlyshyn (Australia), Taras Koznarsky (Canada), Michael M. Naydan and
Askold Melnyczuk (both from the USA). All are also members of the Shevchenko
Scientific Society. Ulana Pasicznyk serves as the journal's manuscript editor.
The first issue of Ukrainian Literature contains 263 pages and presents the
prose works of Valerii Shevchuk, Volodymyr Dibrova, Spyrydon Cherkasenko,
Ievheniia Kononenko, Yuri Pokalchuk, Borys Antonenko-Davydovych, Vasyl Gabor, Lenid
Mosendz, Emma Andijewska, and Oleksandr Irvanets; six of these are
contemporary living writers of Ukraine. Poetry is represented by selections from Taras
Shevchenko and Pavlo Tychyna. Translators, whose works appears in this
volume are: Olha Rudakevych, Uliana Pasicznyk, Michael M. Naydan, Anatole Bilenko,
Svitlana Kobets, Mark Andryczyk, Yaryna Yakubyak, Taras Koznarsky, Marta
Baziuk, Marta D. Olynyk, and Maria Kachmar.
This volume concludes with Marta Tarnawsky's selected bibliography of transla
tions from Ukrainian literature published in book form since 2000. In his
introduction, Maxim Tarnawsky, the editor, notes the uneven history of
translation from Ukrainian literature, commenting that "the establishment of a forum
for translations of Ukrainian literature into English is an important
development reversing a pattern of neglect".
This journal of translations will be published biennially, both in the
electronic form and in a paper edition. It is likely not only to find thousands of
new readers for Ukrainian literature in the English-speaking world, but also
to exert an influence on the Ukrainian field of translations and even on the
development of Ukrainian literature in general. The Shevchenko Scientific
Society is planning a major public presentation of the new journal in New York City
after the first volume is published in a printed edition. Until then, the
readers can make their acquaintance with UKRAINIAN LITERATURE by reading it on
the internet under either one of the two addresses indicated above.
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