At the Library: Poetry series helps to bring Ukrainian conflict to forefront

In April 2022, a donor offered the Washington State University Libraries several volumes of the Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Series from Lost Horse Press. The series is a dual-language publication that brings the voices of Ukrainian poets to an English-speaking audience, while also providing the reader with the original Ukrainian text. I was excited to learn that Lost Horse Press is a local Washington state press, now in Liberty Lake, Wash.

Established in 1998 by Christine Lysnewycz Holbert, Lost Horse Press is a nonprofit, independent press that endeavors to print both emerging and established poets whose works are often overlooked by conglomerate publishers. The Press’s Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Series was founded in 2017 by Holbert and series editor Grace Mahoney. Mahoney also translated the first title in the series, Iryna Starovoyt’s “Field of Foundlings” (2017).

In her introduction to Starovoyt’s work, Mahoney personifies the poet as a bird: “This bird flies swift and low through the streets of her city, methodically collecting various scraps of daily life, the twigs of memory, and scattered cultural treasures to build her nest, the poem.” With each volume authored by a different Ukrainian poet, the reader can experience the shelter of 12 different “nests,” each offering a unique perspective on life in Ukraine, woven through the lenses of history, memory, resistance and struggle.

While some of the poets, like Serhiy Zhadan and Lyuba Yakimchuk, have garnered international acclaim and are known to English audiences, others have received little attention outside of Ukraine. Award-winning activist-poet Zhadan’s contribution, “A New Orthography” (2020), brings the reader into the poet’s realm to experience vignettes of daily life in Ukraine under the shadows of war. Likewise, Yakimchuk’s volume, “Apricots of Donbas” (2021), grants the reader a multisensory experience in the footsteps of the poet. While some of her poems describe harsh environments and experiences, she writes with an exquisite sincerity, often surprising the reader with ironies that are sometimes subtle, and other times breathtakingly tragic. Readers may recognize Yakimchuk from her poem “Prayer,” which she read at the 2022 Grammy Awards, accompanied by John Legend.

For several of the poets, the series volume represents their first book-length translation in English. This includes Iryna Shuvalova’s “Pray to the Empty Wells” (2019), which was translated by Olena Jennings in collaboration with Shuvalova herself. In many cases, the translators worked closely with the authors, ensuring that the beauty of the poems are not lost, but augmented by their heartfelt attention. As Mahoney explains in her introduction to Starovoyt’s poetry: “Each of the poems posed their own questions and defiances to the translator, but each decision was made with care and love.”

Each work begins with an introduction, preface or translator’s notes, each beautifully written to invite the reader to engage with the poets, their lives, their language and work. Other titles in the series include Natalka Bilotserkivets’s “Eccentric Days of Hope and Sorrow” (2021), Boris and Lyudmyla Khersonky’s “The Country Where Everyone’s Name is Fear” (2022) and Dmytro Kremin’s “A Violin from the Other Riverside” (forthcoming, March 2023). The series currently numbers 12 volumes and continues to grow. The Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Series titles are available for check-out through the WSU Libraries, and Lost Horse Press books are now also distributed by WSU Press.

At 2 p.m. April 6, the WSU Libraries will host Holbert in the Terrell Library Atrium for a special event celebrating Ukrainian poetry featuring readings from the Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Series in Ukrainian and English. We hope you can join us for an afternoon of poetry and song. A full list of titles and more information on the Lost Horse Press Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Series can be found at losthorsepress.org

Reznowski is the language and music librarian at Washington State University Libraries.