S5E7 and all video recordings are available on our YouTube.

Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature is a video series for anyone interested in literature and the culture of books and reading. Each month, host David A. Goldfarb will present a new topic in conversation with an expert on that author or book or movement in Polish literature. More about the Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature series and the timeline.

Oksana Lutsyshyna is a Ukrainian writer, translator, and poet, author of three novels, a collection of short stories, and five books of poetry, the latest of them published in the English translation in 2019 (Persephone Blues, Arrowsmith). For her latest novel, Ivan and Phoebe, she was awarded the Lviv City of Literature UNESCO Prize (2020) and the Taras Shevchenko National Award in fiction (2021). She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, and is currently teaching at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of Ukrainian PEN. She translates, in collaboration with Olena Jennings, the work of contemporary Ukrainian authors.

In this episode, we discuss the situation for Ukrainian writers living outside of Ukraine. We learn about the borderland region of Transcarpathia where the author comes from. We also look at one of her poems from her collection, Persephone Blues, and her recently translated novels, Love Life and Ivan and Phoebe.

Oksana Lutsyshyna in English Translation:

Oksana Lutsyshyna. Ivan and Phoebe. Tr. Nina Murray. Dallas: Deep Vellum, 2023.

Oksana Lutsyshyna. Love Life. Tr. Nina Murray. Intro. by Marko Pavlyshyn. Boston: HURI Books, 2024.

Oksana Lutsyshyna. Persephone Blues. Tr. Askold Melnyczuk, et al. Medford, Mass.: Arrowsmith Press, 2019.

Author website: lutsyshyna.com

David A. Goldfarb, Host & Producer
Bartek Remisko, Curator and Executive Producer
Natalia Iyudin, Producer