UK-Ukraine partnership brings wartime poetry to the world

Soldiers, poets, language experts and representatives from UNESCO Cities of Literature have joined together to create an international platform for Ukrainian wartime poetry.

Voices from an Endangered Culture has recorded poets reading their work, including several narrated from the frontline of the country’s defence against Russia’s illegal invasion, with the sounds of artillery in the background.

The poems include ‘The Position’, Fedir Rudyi’s poignant account of life in the trenches, and Eva Tur’s ‘Look at Me’, which draws upon Ukrainian folk traditions to express the loss she feels.

Academics and students at the University of Exeter have played a key role in the translation and subtitling of the poems, which have been published on YouTube, hosted by UNESCO Exeter City of Literature in conjunction with counterparts in Lviv and Manchester.

Professor Hugh Roberts, of the Department of Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies, helped to coordinate the project, along with students Olena Mevsha and Mykyta Isagulov.

“August is, ordinarily, a month of celebration for Ukraine, with this year marking its 33rd year of independence,” said Professor Roberts. “That independence, however, is being threatened by Russia’s hybrid war – a threat that extends to its cultural identity and language. And that is why this flourishing of Ukrainian war poetry is so important. In its messages of defiance, pride, love and loss, it crosses geographic divides to present a powerfully and poignant human response.”

Four of the poets showcased in this series of YouTube narrations are serving members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Dmytro Lazutkin was a sports journalist and commentator, and former kickboxing champion, before Russia’s invasion. Now a Senior Lieutenant in the 7th Separate Mechanized Brigade, he has won prizes for his wartime poetry and narrates ‘Rolling Stones (Paint it Black)’ for the project. And Anatoliy Dnistrovyi’s ‘The Three Colonels’ reveals a different side of Ukrainian resistance – a sense of humour in the absurd.

The fifth poet to be featured is Olena Huseinova, a writer and radio host, who wrote many of her poems while hosting night shifts on-air. ‘A Country of Open Wounds’ alludes to the city of Kharkiv, and she recorded her reading outside its railway station.

The recordings were first shown at Manchester Poetry Library and Exeter Phoenix in June and July as part of several reading events led by poet and translator Yuliya Musakovska and Huseinova, with Hanna Khriakova of Lviv City of Literature.

“It was crucial to have the presence of the poets in the room, their voices being heard, and emotions conveyed,” said Musakovska, reflecting upon the team’s efforts in bringing Ukrainian poetry to the UK and other countries. “The authors who serve in the military are focused on their combat duty, fighting the aggressor, often on the frontline. So, these videos are a great way to bring them to the UK, at least virtually.”