Organized By Dash Arts
35 - 47 Bethnal Green Road, ,London (51.524184, -0.073149)
A conversation about Ukraine Inspired by the work of poet Ihor Pavlyuk Wednesday 5th March 2014, 7:30pm FREE Rich Mix, Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA The Dash Cafe, the British Ukrainian Society and English PEN present the work of Ukrainian poet Ihor Pavlyuk. Ihor’s work paints an extraordinary and complex picture of Ukraine and we will use it as inspiration to begin a conversation about the country today. Featuring the haunting and soulful music of Olesya Zdorovetska and a panel chaired by Dash Artistic Director Josephine Burton with Journalist Annabelle Chapman, translator Steve Komanyckyj and Ihor himself, this will be a celebration of Ukrainian voices that can gives us a unique perspective on the current political situation. Dash Cafe events are free but reserve your place by emailing [email protected] About A Flight Over the Black Sea A Flight over the Black Sea by Ihor Pavlyuk is translated from Ukrainian by Stephen Komarnyckj and published by Waterloo Press. The book consists of 75 of Ihor's poems in translation. The poems create a powerful mythic world in some ways akin to the confessional poetry of Sylvia Plath but with a focus on questions of language, empire and identity. Pavlyuk's poetic world, the internal cosmos he created in exile in St. Petersburg has resulted in a subjective, confessional poetry in a Slavic language. About our Guests Annabelle Chapman Annabelle is a freelance journalist working in Poland and Ukraine. She graduated from Oxford University with a first class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and a Masters in Russian and Eastern European Studies. She writes for the Economist online (Eastern Approaches blog) and regularly features in Foreign Affairs, Monocle, the European Voice, Slate, the Kyiv Post in Ukraine and Polityka, a leading Polish weekly, in Warsaw. She is currently writing her PhD in Communist history. Stephen Komarnyckj Steve Komarnyckyj is a poet and translator who was born in Yorkshire in 1963 but maintains strong links with his ancestral Ukraine. His literary translations and poems have appeared in Poetry Salzburg Review, The North, and Modern Poetry in Translation. His book of translations from the Ukrainian poet Pavlo Tychyna, The Raspberry’s Eyelash (Poetry Salzburg, 2011), was described as a “revelation” by Sean Street. His translation of Vasyl Shkliar’s Ukrainian novel, Raven, was published in April 2013. He runs Kalyna Language Press with his partner Susie and three domestic cats. Ihor Pavlyuk Ihor Pavlyuk was born in the Volyn region of Ukraine in January 1967 and studied at the St Petersburg Military University, which he left in order to pursue his career as a writer. He was as a result sentenced to a period of hard labour in the Taiga working on what was literally a road to nowhere but regained his liberty in the chaos accompanying the fall of the Soviet Union. He was able subsequently to complete his education and become a Doctor of Social Communication. His numerous poetry collections include Islands of youth (Ukrainian Острови юності) (1990), Magma (Ukrainian Магма) (2005), Ukraine at smoke (Ukrainian Україна в диму) (2009), Masculine fortunetelling (Ukrainian Чоловічe ворожіння) (2013). His work has been translated into several languages including English, French, Polish, Russian and Japanese. Olesya Zdorovetska Ukrainian performer and composer Olesya Zdorovetska’s deep love of musical expression transcends genre and style. Recent solo projects include explorations of traditional music from her native Ukraine, investigations of Spanish poetry from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, and ‘Texts for Nothing’, based on the work of Samuel Beckett. Collaboratively, she sings with celebrated Salsa band ‘Dislocados’ and electro-acoustic chamber ensemble, Sefiroth Ensemble. http://www.olesyazdorovetska.com/ About our Collaborators British Ukrainian Society As a not-for-profit organisation, the British Ukrainian Society seeks to raise the profile of Ukraine in Great Britain and strengthen relations at all levels between the United Kingdom and Ukraine. It provides a network for people from both countries to interact and cooperate. http://www.britishukrainiansociety.org English Pen English PEN works to promote literature and human rights. From defending the rights of persecuted writers to promoting literature in translation and running writing workshops in schools, English PEN seeks to advocate literature as a means of intercultural understanding, promoting the friendly co-operation of writers and free exchange of ideas. www.englishpen.org