Recommendations from the Kyiv Independent: Contemporary Ukrainian prose and poetry in Vogue Ukraine (Patreon)

A warm hello to our Kyiv Independent community members,

This is Andrea Januta, one of our reporters, bringing you your next recommendation to introduce you to more Ukrainian culture. I’m happy to recommend the first volume of “Contemporary Ukrainian Prose & Poetry,” published by Vogue Ukraine last year.  

It’s a wonderful collection of poetry and short stories from 18 well-known Ukrainian authors, all published between 2019 and 2023. And, you have the option to read in either language; each piece is included with both an English translation and the original Ukrainian.  

Many of the works touch on the war, of course. A woman waits for a text confirming her husband is alive, and knits a “crazy-colored” scarf for him because now he only has clothes in military-grade olive. A soldier on leave climbs the stairs to his girlfriend’s house, missing the sound of her kettle and the time they spent watching pirated movies in bed together. A married couple in Paris attends family therapy to discuss Kyiv being bombed and a recent fight about Manolo Blahnik shoes. 

But the book also includes pieces written before the full-scale invasion that show Ukrainian literature and life beyond the war. A woman quits her teaching job to work in a bookstore cafe. A photographer begins a new photo project on her balcony during Covid. 

One of my favorites is Eugenia Kuznetsova’s “Jonas:” A young German man meets his Ukrainian girlfriend’s father for the first time, feeling culturally out of place while mushroom hunting in a marsh. I think one reason I like it so much is that it reminds me of the first time my (American) fiancé met my Lithuanian father.  

The fiancé – coincidentally named Jones – gifted me this book for my birthday on the same visit to Kyiv when he proposed, so I have an extra attachment to it. I can say from experience that it makes an excellent gift for women in your life.  

The book is divided into five sections, organized by theme: Love, Memory, Pain, Adventure, and Sensuality. Because one of the book’s goals is to introduce foreign readers to contemporary Ukraine, each section begins with a short introduction to the author’s life and work.  

Part of the appeal of this book, for me, is the chance to see a range of styles and subjects across the literary landscape. I always love a chance to sample many different flavors at once.  When I lived in New York, I would always keep an eye out for short film festivals. My bookshelf is loaded with collections of essays. I will often forgo a main course in favor of a table of appetizers. With a book like this, you can pick it up and put it down when you can spare a short bit of time. 

You can read more details about the book here.  

If this sounds like something you would enjoy, the book is available on Vogue Ukraine’s website and ships internationally. A portion of the proceeds are donated to a foundation working to rehabilitate female veterans.