Category: Ukraine

Little Squirrel by Andrei Geraschenko – a translation of a prescient anti-war story from Belarus

May 12, 2022

In February I translated a short story set at the end of the Second World War – Belchonok (Little Squirrel) by the Belarusian author Andrei Geraschenko. The story was written and published in Russian in 1992. Told through the death of a small Belarusian boy, killed during a Nazi raid on his village, it is an affecting and thoughtful piece of writing about one of the tragedies of war: that the soldiers who kill children are often fathers themselves. … More Little Squirrel by Andrei Geraschenko – a translation of a prescient anti-war story from Belarus

Ukrainian translation: Russia’s destruction of the Slovo writers’ house in Kharkiv – Chytomo

April 25, 2022

My first published translation from Ukrainian is for Chytomo, a literature and culture website run by a team of creatives in Kyiv. It is an article by Ukrainian literary critic Vira Aheeva, about Russia’s bombing of the ‘Slovo’ writers’ house in Kharkiv, and how it echoes the damage done to the building by Stalin’s NKVD in the 1930s. The article begins:
“During the mass bombing of Kharkiv, a city of over a million people close to the border with Russia, the ‘Slovo’ writers’ house was badly damaged. The house is a significant building in Kharkiv, associated with the renaissance of the Ukrainian arts scene in the 1920s.” … More Ukrainian translation: Russia’s destruction of the Slovo writers’ house in Kharkiv – Chytomo

How to spend a perfect weekend in Kyiv, Ukraine – for Lonely Planet

December 19, 2019

From ‘Bessarabka’, walk up one of the steep vulytsi (streets) that lead to the highest part of the city, and choose a cafe for brunch near the 11th Century Zoloti Vorota (Golden Gates). Eat some varenyki – Ukrainian dumplings that are made with both sweet and savoury fillings. Near to Zoloti Vorota is the gorgeous St. Sophia’s cathedral. Climb to the top of the bell tower for a first panoramic view of Kiev: the exquisite and colourful buildings of Sofiyska Square and St. Michael’s monastery below, and on the horizon, the districts of the left bank of the River Dnieper. … More How to spend a perfect weekend in Kyiv, Ukraine – for Lonely Planet

A translation for The Guardian: ‘I want to live in style’ – the gay provocateur defying rebels in eastern Ukraine

November 30, 2015

I was recently asked by the Calvert Journal, a website about contemporary culture in the post-Soviet world, to translate an article written in Russian by the journalist Denis Boyarinov for the journal Takie Dela. Today the English version of the article was republished by the Guardian, appearing here on its New East Network, and on the homepage … More A translation for The Guardian: ‘I want to live in style’ – the gay provocateur defying rebels in eastern Ukraine