Serhiy Zhadan in Uzhgorod! (Announcement)

On April 14, 2015, in Uzhgorod, Serhiy Zhadan will read his poems from the new book "Life of Maria" 

From March 30 to May 15, the International Literary Corporation MERIDIAN CZERNOWITZ organizes the presentation of the new book of the poet, writer and translaor Seriy Zhadan "Life of Maria", which will take place in 33 cities of Ukraine.

The author believes that such events are important first of all because the country has changed, the air has changed. "There are too many gaps and seams. They need to be filled with something. We can try to fill them with poems."

During March-May, Serhiy Zhadan and the President of the MERIDIAN CZERNOWITZ Svyatoslav Pomerantsev will be visiting all regional centers of Ukraine – from Uzhgorod to Kharkiv, from Kyiv to Odessa. In each city, there will be three events – the speech to students of local universities, the press conference for regional media, and the discussion and presentation of the book. In addition, they plan to visit cities near the front.

             The schedule of the events in Uzhgorod:

12:00 – meeting with students of UzhNU (B1 audience on the BAM)

14:00 – press conference in Uzhgorod Press Club (Zhupanatska Sq.)

18:00 – presentation in the Puppet Theater (Teatralna Sq.), admission fee – 40 UAH.

         Part of the money will be donated for the needs of the ATO.

The events will be held as part of the project "War and Culture: Dialogue of Enemies", which is implemented with the support of the International Foundation "Renaissance".

"Life of Maria" is a new book of poems and translations by Serhiy Zhadan. It contains 80 texts: 60 poems of the author and 20 translations of poems by Czeslaw Milosz. The poems were written and translated mainly during the last year. According to Serhiy Zhadan, this book is about love and hate. "It is special in that was written as a diary – in a short period of time. It features a particularly contrasting combination of internal and external, light and dark."

According to the editor of the book Oleksandr Boychenko, "the easiest thing to do during the war is to hate others. The hardest thing is to reach an understanding. Even with your own. But we must try, or the war will never end. And to reach an understanding, we need to talk. Now matter who with, how, and what about. Most importantly, do that without losing humanity, that is love and attention. In the collection of poems "Life of Maria" Serhiy Zhadan talks about the dearest letters and burned bridges, lost places and destroyed cities. He talks in rhymed and free verses, his own and translated words. He talks with his and other people, with saints are not so much, with killed soldiers and living refugees, with Rilke, Milos, and of course with us. He talks to save, if not us, then at least our children."

The book is illustrated with pictures taken by Serhiy Zhadan and Kharkiv designer Illya Pavlov.

Partners of the project: International Foundation "Renaissance", the Polish Institute in Kyiv, Paul Celan Literaturzentrum in Chernivtsi, Polish Book Institute

Media partners: "Ukrainska Pravda", HromadskeTV, Hromadske Radio, the magazine "Kraina", Gazeta.ua