Ukrainian authors from Canada and U.S. meet at writers' association conference (04/17/05)

Ukrainian authors from Canada and U.S. meet at writers' association conference

by Lisa Grekul
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

VANCOUVER - This year's Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference, held for the first time in Canada, became the setting for a historic gathering of six Ukrainian American and Canadian authors. Jars Balan, Halyna Hryn, Janice Kulyk Keefer, Myrna Kostash, Askold Melnyczuk and Irene Zabytko came together to form a panel titled "Umbilical Ukraine: Canadian and American Writers of Ukrainian Descent Confront the Mother Country in Fiction and Memoir."

The panel took place on April 2, with the writers taking turns speaking about how their experiences traveling to Ukraine, in some cases many times, have influenced their identities and their writing.

For readers of English-language diasporic Ukrainian literature, "Umbilical Ukraine" took on groundbreaking significance. According to Ms. Zabytko, who organized the panel, "it was the first time a group of Canadian and American writers and scholars participated in a public forum focused on their ties to Ukraine."

An Edmonton-based critic, editor, translator and poet, and a specialist in Ukrainian Canadian writing, Mr. Balan spoke first about the eight trips to Ukraine he has made since 1968, as well as his plans to write a memoir about his travels. He concentrated, however, on his first, formative journey as a 16-year-old to Kyiv, Lviv and Chernivtsi, which began, for him, a lifelong commitment to bettering the lives of Ukrainians in his ancestral homeland.

Impressions of Ukraine

Although his talk was, at times, lighthearted and humorous, as he described his first, adolescent impressions of Ukraine, Mr. Balan was moved to tears as he described visiting Taras Shevchenko's grave and listening to the words of his aunt. "You go back," she said, "and tell people we're not happy here."

Ms. Hryn took to the podium next, offering audience members an overview of the emergence and development of Ukrainian writing in Canada and the United States. A translator and scholar who has recently completed her doctoral dissertation on the Kharkiv journal Literaturnyi Iarmarok and who is about to begin her tenure as editor of Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Ms. Hryn drew attention to common features of diasporic Ukrainian writing, especially themes related to historical tragedy and trauma.

A shared history

She applauded writers for having the courage to speak out about a shared history marked by political upheaval and social unrest, and she concluded by observing that diasporic Ukrainian literature has evolved from a few isolated voices to a rich and distinct literary tradition, one that merits serious scholarly attention.

History, both private and public, was the cornerstone of Ms. Kulyk Keefer's presentation. A second-generation Ukrainian Canadian whose novel "The Green Library" and family memoir "Honey and Ashes: A Story of Family" were published to critical acclaim, Ms. Kulyk Keefer shared stories of how she has struggled to come to terms with her ethnicity, turning away from her Ukrainian heritage for much of her life but then returning to it to "set down her family's stories before the storytellers vanished."

Understanding the past

In the process of searching for a meaningful way to express her ethnic identity, one that does not rely on "song and dance" expressions of culture, she traveled to Ukraine and discovered there the importance of understanding Ukraine's past and her family's relationship to it.

Unlike Ms. Kulyk Keefer, Ms. Kostash, a third-generation Ukrainian Canadian, has written about ethnicity throughout her career as a journalist and creative non-fiction writer. The author of numerous books, including "All of Baba's Children," "Bloodlines: A Journey Into Eastern Europe" and "The Doomed Bridegroom: A Memoir," Ms. Kostash spoke frankly about the obstacles she faced during her many trips to Eastern Europe in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Her presentation focused on how her writing has changed over the years from objective non-fiction to more subjective, creative non-fiction, and how this change has enabled her to reconcile her sense of attachment to Ukraine with her simultaneous status as an outsider.

Mr. Melnyczuk echoed Ms. Kulyk Keefer as he spoke about resisting his ethnic inheritance while he was growing up but eventually confronting that inheritance in his writing. Mr. Melnyczuk, who directs the Creative Writing Program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, has published two novels, "What is Told" and "Ambassador of the Dead," the first of which was named a New York Times Notable Book.

Reflecting changes in Ukraine

Mr. Melnyczuk talked about traveling to Ukraine in 1990 and connecting with Ukrainian writers at a poetry conference there, and, like the other writers on the panel, he addressed the ways in which the changing Ukraine continues to engage his imagination and shape his writing.

To conclude the panel, Ms. Zabytko, who moderated the discussion, spoke briefly about her ongoing creative projects that are related to Ukraine. Born and raised in the Ukrainian Village section of Chicago, she has published a novel, "The Sky Unwashed," and a collection of short fiction, "When Luba Leaves Home." Ms. Zabytko is currently working on a documentary film about the survivors of Chornobyl that will take her back to Ukraine in the coming months.

Ms. Zabytko must be commended and congratulated for the part she played in organizing "Umbilical Ukraine." Conversations among audience members for this well-attended conference panel were as lively and impassioned as the authors' presentations. Clearly, diasporic Ukrainians' ties to Ukraine, especially in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution, are strong. This event illustrated the important, ongoing role that writers play in maintaining the strength of those ties.

Lisa Grekul is a writer and literary scholar whose specialty is Ukrainian Canadian literature.

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