Please join the Ukrainian Studies Program at the Harriman Institute and the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (UJE) for a discussion with writers Vasyl Makhno and Andrey Kurkov.
Vasyl Makhnoās novel Vichnyi Kalendar (The Eternal Calendar, 2019) received the 2020 “Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prizeā¢”, which is sponsored by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter with the support of the NGO Publishers Forum (Lviv, Ukraine). Makhno and fellow writer Andrey Kurkov (who served as the head of the jury for the 2020 prize) will discuss the āEncounterā prize and other important recent developments in contemporary Ukrainian literature. The event will include opening remarks from Natalia A. Feduschak, UJEās communications director and a reading by Makhno, in Ukrainian, of an excerpt from his award-wining novel. Dr. Mark Andryczyk will read an English-language translation of the excerpt and will moderate the discussion.
Vasyl Makhno is a Ukrainian poet, writer, playwright, and essayist who recently participated in a unique literary residency in Agnonās hometown Buchach and contributed to the volume āLight on the Hillsā in which he describes his acquaintance with Agnonās work (and his meeting with Emuna Yaron, Agnonās daughter). Makhno is the author of thirteen collections of poetry, including Winter Letters and Other Poems and, most recently, Poet, the Ocean and Fish. He has also published the novel The Eternal Calendar and books of essays and literary criticism. His books have been published in Germany, Israel, Poland, Romania, Serbia and the US. The Eternal Calendar was the winner of the 2020 āEncounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prizeā¢ā.
Andrey Kurkov, Ukraineās most widely translated author, has published over 20 novels, including the bestselling Death and the Penguin, 10 books for children, and about 20 documentary, fiction and TV movie scripts. His most recent novel to appear in English is Grey Bees, a timely and imaginative look at the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict, told thought the prism of the authorās signature surrealistic humor. Kurkov is President of PEN Ukraine, a branch of the worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere.