Taras Prohasko and Serhij Zhadan, photo by Anna Wojtenko
Prominent contemporary writers Serhiy Zhadan and Taras Prohasko lend their voices for the Ukrainian Czesław Miłosz audiobook. The Polish poet’s work goes across the country in a special literary edition of Ukrainian weekly
The Ukranian edition of the Audiobook features: "To Allen Ginsberg", "Rue Descartes", "And Yet", "A Magic Mountain", "An Honest Description of Myself with a Glass of Whiskey at An Airport, Let Us Say, in Minneapolis", "A Poor Christian Looks at the Ghetto", "Gift", "Parable", "Herclitus", "Capri".
The Ukrainian selection of poems by Czesław Miłosz was prepared by Andrei Bondar and some new translations were made by the actors themselves. The soundtrack for the Ukrainian recording of Miłosz's poems was played by Nostri Temporis band.
The writer Taras Prohasko was born in 1968, and was educated as a botanist. Together with Yuri Andrukhovych, Prohasko is a key representative of the famous "Stanislavski phenomenon". He has cooperated with several Lviv-based magazines, such as Express and Postup. Since 1992, he is editor in chief of Chetver. Prohasko, who is member of Ukrainian Writers’ Association is a laureate of numerous literary prizes. In 1997 he won the Smoloskyp magazine award, and in 2007 the writer became a laureate of the Joseph Conrad literary prize (founded by the Polish Institute in Kiev).
Born in 1974, Serhiy Zhadan is a Ukrainian writer, poet and translator. He is the laureate of numerous prizes, such as the Joseph Conrad award he won in 2009, and the BBC Book of the Year awards in 2006 and 2010. Zhadan is one of the most popular Ukrainian writers. His works have been translated into 30 languages. Serhiy Zhadan has also contributed significantly to translations of Belarussian, German and Polish literary works. He has translated Paul Celan’s collection of poems, and published an anthology of contemporary Viennese poets, entitled "The Children of Rainer and Maria".
Taras Prohasko recites:
Притча – Parable
Будяк кропива – The Thistle, The Nettle
Капрі – Capri
Дар – Gift
Тіло – Body
Лінней – Linnaeus
Геракліт – Heraclitus
Serhiy Zhadan recites:
Чарівна гора – A Magic Mountain
Бідний християнин дивиться на гетто – Poor Christian Looks at the Ghetto
Чесний опис самого себе – An Honest Description
До Аллена Гінзберга – To Allen Ginsberg
Rue Descartes
А однак – And Yet
The Ukrainian audiobook was a free insert into the Ukrainian Week special, devoted to the life and work of Czesław Miłosz. The edition comprised texts of numerous Ukrainian intellectuals, as well as selected writings of Miłosz. Authors who published in the edition are Yuri Andrukhovych, Mykola Ryabchuk, Yaroslav Hrycek, and Aleksander Fiut and Krzysztof Czyżewski from Poland. 10 000 copies of the special are to be distributed across Ukraine for 6 months. The insert will also accompany a newly published collection of Miłosz’s poems, and will be distributed with Krytyka magazine.
The Ukrainian edition of Czesław Miłosz's audiobook was made possible thanks to the help and cooperation with the Polish Institute in Kiev.
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