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YARA ARTS GROUP's
book release event in Kyiv for

IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT:

A Bilingual Anthology of Ukrainian Literature
Translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps
as Performed by Yara Arts Group


Les Kurbas Theater Center
23 Volodymyrska, Kyiv, Ukraine
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

with appearances by poets: Oksana Batiuk, Natalka Bilotserkivets, Andiy Bondar,
Taras Luchuk, Mykola Riabchuk and Oksana Zabuzhko,
as well as Virlana Tkacz, Wanda Phipps, editor Olha Luchuk
book designer Rostyslav Luzhetsky and actor Mykola Shkaraban


Yara Arts Group celebrated the publication of the poetry Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps translated from Ukrainian to create the texts for Yara's theatre pieces. The performances that generated the translations are described and color photographs from Yara's productions are included. The book, edited by Olha Luchuk, with an introduction by Natalia Pylypiuk, was published by Sribne Slovo Press in Lviv.

The book launch event took place in the newly renovated Les Kurbas Theatre Center in the heart of Kyiv. Yara’s favorite venue in town was packed with friends, poets and visiting scholars from the International Conference of Ukrainian Studies that had just opened. Virlana told the story of Yara and showed projections from the shows, while the poets and translators read the poems that inspired the theatre pieces.


Wanda and Mykola Shkaraban read bilingual versions of Pavlo Tychyna’s “Rhythm” as well as a scene from Lesia Ukrainka’s play “Forest Song.” Wanda and Virlana read a short excerpt from their prize-winning translation of Natalka Bilotserkivets’s “May.” Wanda then read Yara’s translation of Oksana Batiuk’s “Run,” and Oksana read her translation of Wanda’s poem “Morning Poem #2.” After Mykola Riabchuk read his “Eternity,” Andriy Bondar stood up to read his poem “Latynka” in which Mykola Riabchuk is a character. Taras Luchuk and Wanda swapped lines in a bilingual version of Taras’s ironic “Refined Taste.” The highlight of the event was Oksana Zabuzhko’s reading “Through the Looking Glass: Mrs.Merzhynsky” which re-imagines the life of Lesia Ukrainka and a rousing bilingual Oksana’s “Symptoms of Poetry.” A reception with wine and cheese followed.




Wanda Phipps & Oksana Batiuk, Mykola Riabchuk, Andriy Bondar reads "Latynka," Virlana, Oksana Zabuzhko and Wanda read a bilingual version of Oksana's "Symptoms of Poetry."

You can read the translations of some of the poems in the book:

Volodymyr Svidzinsky's "Tired, Leaning on the Hills"
Attila Mohylny "Flying South Through the Night"
Oleh Lysheha's "Song 212"
Anka Sereda's "I Don't Want To Be a Poet"
Yuri Andrukhovych's "Library"
Oksana Zabuzhko's "Symptoms of Poetry"

See more on presentations of In A Different Light in Lviv and in New York at Shevchenko Society and Ukrainian Museum
and In A Different Light Festival at Ukrainian Institute in New York More on the book In A Different Light

in photos: cover designed by Rostyslav Luzhetsky featuring Sean Eden and Rebecca Moore in "A Light From the East" photo by Watoku Ueno
all other photos by Vitaliy Horbonos


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