NEW YORK – In April, Yale University Press will publish “What We Live For, What We Die For: Selected Poems” by Serhiy Zhadan, one of Ukraine’s foremost poets, in English translation by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps. The book has a foreword by New York poet Bob Holman.
The 50 poems were selected by Ms. Tkacz and include poems from Mr. Zhadan’s collections from 2001 to 2015. The book is arranged in reverse chronological order, starting with poems inspired by the war in Donetsk and ending with a poem written in 2001 about the arrests of writers in the Slovo Building in Kharkiv in the 1930s. Recently, The New York Times Book Review online included the book in its “Globetrotting” column as part of a “Sneak Preview of Books Coming Out in 2019 from Around the World.”
Over the years many of the poems in the book served as texts in theater productions by Yara Arts Group and to this day they continue to inspire innovative events. This spring Yara will celebrate the publication of the book with a series of new events in New York, Philadelphia and Boston.
On Friday, April 12, The Ukrainian Museum and Yara Arts Group will present “Zhadan & the Bushwick Book Club,” featuring new music, art, film and tattoos inspired by Mr. Zhadan’s poetry. New York City songwriters Susan Hwang, Charlie Nieland, Rachelle Garniez, John S. Hall, Dallin Applebaum, Andi Rae Healy, Ray Brown and Erel Pilo will perform new songs. Filmmakers Lisa Barnstone, Roman Turovsky, artist Emilia Devitis and tattoo artist Tasha Rubinow will display new work in response to Mr. Zhadan’s latest release.
On Saturday, April 13, The Ukrainian Museum and Yara Arts Group will present “Zhadan and Jazz.” Mr. Zhadan will read his poetry and Yara actors will read English translations, while jazz pianists Anthony Coleman and Fima Chupakin play.
Both events at The Ukrainian Museum, located at 222 East 6th St., New York City, begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25, or $20 for students, seniors and museum members.
On Sunday, April 14, the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center in Jenkintown, Pa., and Yara Arts Group present “Zhadan and Jazz.” Mr. Zhadan will reads his poetry, and Yara actors will read English translations, while the aforementioned jazz pianists play. The event, supported by the Ukrainian Community Foundation of Philadelphia, begins at 2 p.m. at the UECC, 700 North Cedar Road.
Mr. Zhadan will also take part in events at Columbia and Harvard universities.
On Tuesday, April 9, at 7 p.m. the Ukrainian Film Club of Columbia University, led by Yuri Shevchuk, will present the new feature film “Wild Field” based on Mr. Zhadan’s novel “Voroshylovhrad.” Mr. Zhadan, who wrote the script of the film and plays a cameo role in it, will discuss “Wild Field” with the viewers. The film is in Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles. The screening will be the film’s unofficial U.S. premiere. Admission to the event is free; the venue is Deutsches Haus, 420 W. 116th Street (at Amsterdam Avenue).
On Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m., the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute will present Mr. Zhadan reading his poems from “What We Live For, What We Die For” in Ukrainian, while Ms. Tkacz will read the English translations. The venue is: Center for Government and International Studies South Building, Room S030, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, Mass.; admission is free.
Mr. Zhadan was born in the Luhansk region of Ukraine and educated in Kharkiv. He is the author of 12 books of poetry. His prose works include “Big Mac” (2003), “Depeche Mode” (2004), “Anarchy in the UKR” (2005), “Hymn of the Democratic Youth” (2006), “Voroshilovgrad” (2010), and “Mesopotamia” (2014). His books have been translated into English, German, French, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Russian. Yale University Press published the English translation of his novel ”Mesopotamia” last spring. Mr. Zhadan has collaborated with Yara Arts Group since 2002 and is the front man for the band Zhadan and the Dogs.
Ms. Tkacz and Ms. Phipps are an award-winning translation team who have been translating Ukrainian poetry since 1989.
Mr. Zhadan’s books will be available for purchase at all the events, and the author will be available to sign them. They can also be purchased on the Yale University website.