Bowery Poetry Club's series schedules 'Ukrainian Reading' (09/10/06)

Bowery Poetry Club's series schedules 'Ukrainian Reading'

NEW YORK - The world-famous New York performance venue, The Bowery Poetry Club, will present a special "Ukrainian Reading" on Sunday, September 24, at 6-8 p.m. The program will showcase Ukrainian-related fiction, poetry and music in English and Ukrainian as part of the highly acclaimed "Balaklava! Eastern European Reading Series" curated by Matvei Yankelevich.

Irene Zabytko and Alexander Motyl will host the evening and read from their fiction.

Ms. Zabytko is the PEN award-winning fiction writer and author of the novel about Chornobyl, "The Sky Unwashed," a short-story collection about Ukrainians in Chicago, "When Luba Leaves Home," and the forthcoming novel, "She Was Exotic and Strange."

Dr. Motyl is a Rutgers University professor and painter, and the author of "Whiskey Priest," a thriller set in post-Soviet Ukraine, and "Who Shot Andrei Warhol," a work in progress.

Dzvinia Orlowsky and Vasyl Makhno will read their poetry. Ms. Orlowsky is a Pushcart Prize-winning poet and author of "A Handful of Bees," "Edge of House," "Except for One Obscene Brushstroke" and the forthcoming "Convertible Night, Flurry of Stones." She recently published a translation of Alexander Dovzhenko's novella, "The Enchanted Desna."

Dr. Makhno, poet-in-residence at the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York, will read his poems in the original Ukrainian and in translation. His latest book is "38 Poems about New York and Other Things." He is currently working on a play, "Coney Island."

The musical portion of the program will be provided by the Svitanya Eastern European Women's Vocal Ensemble. Svitanya, which means "the light at sunrise" in Croatian and Ukrainian, is a nine-member, multi-generational women's choir specializing in traditional vocal music from Eastern Europe including songs from Ukraine, Bulgaria and Croatia. "First Light" is their recently released CD.

Admission is $6. CDs and books will be available for purchase. The Bowery Poetry Club is located at 308 Bowery, New York, NY 10012, at the foot of First Street, between Houston and Bleecker, across the street from CBGB.

The "Balaklava! Eastern European Reading Series" was developed by poets Eugene Ostashevsky and Matvei Yankelevich. Mr. Yankelevich is also editor of Ugly Duckling Press based in Brooklyn.

The Bowery Poetry Club is the brainchild of Bob Holman, a poet who, according to The New Yorker, "has done more for poetry in the bars than anyone since [Lawrence] Ferlinghetti," hearkening back to the famed impresario of the Beats. Mr. Holman has been running poetry readings for 25 years, first at St. Mark's Poetry, then at the Nuyorican Poets Café, and currently at the Bowery Poetry Club. In the past, the club has hosted performances by Ms. Zabytko, Dr. Makhno, Svitanya's Mary Kalyna and by other Ukrainian artists such as poet Serhii Zhadan, bandurist Julian Kytasty and the Canadian ensemble "From Paris to Kyiv."

For more information about the September 24 Ukrainian Night contact the Bowery Poetry Club at 212-614-0505 or www.bowerypoetry.com, or Prof. Motyl at [email protected].

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