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Translations

Ukrainian to English

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Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps have been translating Ukrainian poetry into English since 1989, which has been integral to the original theatre pieces created by Yara.

 

Awards

Agni Poetry Translation Prize for Natalka Bilotserkivets' "May"

National Theatre Translation Fund Award for Lesia Ukrainka's "The Forest Song"

Recipients of numerous New York State Council on the Arts translation grants

Poetry Translation Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Featured Authors

Taras Shevchenko

Lesia Ukrainka

Pavlo Tychyna

Oleh Lysheha

Oksana Zabuzhko

Serhiy Zhadan

 

Poetry Videos with translations from Ukrainian into English:

bob holman.jpg
Take Only What Is Most Important

poem by Serhiy Zhadan

translated by Tkacz & Phipps

read by Bob Holman

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Mushrooms of Donbas

music by Susan Hwang

based on Zhadan's poem

translated by Tkacz & Phipps

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War

 poem "War" by Pavlo Tychyna

translated by Tkacz & Phipps

read by Shona Tucker

Books of Translations by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps from Ukrainian into English:

How Fire Descends: New and Selected Poems by Serhiy Zhadan, translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps, foreword by Ilya Kaminsky (Yale University Press, 2023) PRESS

Dream Bridge: Selected Poems by Oleh Lysheha, translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps, (Lost Horse Press, 2022)

What We Live For, What We Die For: Selected Poems by Serhiy Zhadan with 50 translations by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps (Yale University Press, 2019) Nominated for PEN Poetry Translation Award, Honorable Mention for Outstanding Translation from MLA PRESS

Mesopotamia 30 translations of Serhiy Zhadan's poems  (Yale University Press, 2018)

 

Translations from Ukrainian into English Published in Journals translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps

 

Serhiy Zhadan’s “Just don’t call it a language” in Interpret Journal, No. 10, Scotland UK (Oct, 2023) https://www.interpretmagazine.com/issue-10

Serhiy Zhadan’s “You will never write,” “Tell me again” &  “Just don’t call it a language” in Solstice Magazine (summer 2022)

 https://solsticelitmag.org/content/three-poems-by-serhiy-zhadan/

Serhiy Zhadan’s “Take Only What Is Most Important,” & “Headphones” in Part I of Ukrainian Poetry in Translation, special feature published by National Translation Month, 2022. https://nationaltranslationmonth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Ukrainian-Poetry-in-Translation_Part-I.pdf

Pavlo Tychyna’s “War,” Kateryna Babkina’s “Give Me a Brother” in Part II of Ukrainian Poetry in Translation, special feature published by National Translation Month, 2022. https://nationaltranslationmonth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Ukrainian-Poetry-in-Translation_Part-II.pdf

Serhiy Zhadan’s “Headphones” in New York Times Magazine poem of the week, August 29, 2021.

Mykola Vorobiov’s “Searches for Balance” & “Cage—Balcony—Frost Dream,” Vasyl Holoborodko’s “Her Name,” Natalka bilotserkivets’s “A Kinfe,” “Saxophonist” and an excerpt form “May,” Oksana Zabuzhko’s “Prypiat: A Still Life,” and Serhiy Zhadan’s “Take Only What Is Most Important” “Needle” and “Alcohol,” in Poetry from Ukraine, Ukrainian Book Institute, 2020.

Oleh Lysheha’s  from “Raven,” Serhiy Zhadan’s, “How Did We Build Our Homes,” Kateryna Babkina’s Sandman’s Monologue, She Never Goes to the Movies Alone,” and Oksana Lutsyshyna’s “I Hear America Singing  in Loch Raven Review, Vol 14 No 2 2018.

Kateryna Babkina’s “Painkillers and Sleeping Pills" in Kenyon Review, (Mar-April 2016)
Serhiy Zhadan’s "Take Only What Is Most Important” in Consequence Magazine, vol 8 (spring 2016)
Serhiy Zhadan's "… remember, how winter began in your town," "Hemp Harvesters," and "Oceans" in Inventory: Journal of Translation, Princeton University (fall 2011)
"Is the Master Home?" traditional winter song Our Life (January 2011)
Serhiy Zhadan's "Sell-Out Poets of the '60s" and "Dictionaries in the Service of the Church," Oksana Senatovych's "Ballad about Hands" and Natalka Bilotserkivets's " A Knife" in deKadentsya vol 2 (2010)
Serhiy Zhadan's "Primary School" and "Rubber Soul" International Poetry Review (Fall 2010) 
Serhiy Zhadan’s “Alcohol” The Wolf Magazine, London No.23 (summer 2010)
“Winter Song to a Young Man,” traditional winter song, Subtropics, University of Florida, (spring/summer 2010)
Taras Shevchenko’s “The Sky’s Unwashed” Nova Hazeta (December 18, 2008)
“Before the World Began,” traditional winter song Our Life (December 2008)
Taras Shevchenko’s "A Cloud Floating Behind the Sun" Our Life (October-November 2008)
Serhiy Zhadan's Music for the Fat" Mantis 6 (summer 2007)
Serhiy Zhadan's "Serbo-Croatian," "Elegy for Ursula," "Used Car Salesman," "Hotel Business" 
and "Children's Crusade" Absinthe: New European Writing 7 (2007)
Serhiy Zhadan's "...not to wake her up" Two Lines World Writing in Translation (2007)
Serhiy Zhadan's "Alcohol" National Endowment for the Arts Annual Report (2005)
Serhiy Zhadan's "Noncommercial Film" Circumference: Poetry in Translation (spring/summer 2005)
"Honest woman, wake up, don't sleep," traditional winter song, Our Life (Dec 2004),
Serhiy Zhadan's History of Culture" and "Alcohol" in Welcome to Ukraine, 3 (summer 2004), 
Iryna Zhylenko's "In the Country House" Our Life (April 2004) 
Natalka Bilotserkivets' "Saxophonist" Leviathan Quarterly (June 2002)
Neda Nezhdana's "We Belong in the Darkness" Nimrod (spring 2002)
Oksana Batiuk's "Run" Visions International 62 (spring 2000) 
Oksana Zabuzhko's "An Indication of Poetry" Luna, issue #3 (winter 2000)
Oksana Zabuzhko's "Letter from the Summer House" Luna, issue #3 (winter 2000)
Natalka Bilotserkivets' "A Knife" Visions International 61 (fall 99)
Yuri Andrukhovych's "Library"Visions International 60 (spring 99)
Pavlo Tychyna's "LullVisions International 58 (fall 98)
Anka Sereda's "I Don't Want To Be a Poet" Visions International 58 (fall 98)
Mykola Riabchuk's "To Think About Eternity" Our Life (Dec 1997)
Pavlo Tychyna's "Evohe!"You Tell Me" "Wheat Rot" "The Highest Power" and "Test" Modern Poetry in Translation (summer 1997)
Oksana Zabuzhko's "Ironic Nocturne" Visions International 52 (fall 96)
Ludmyla Taran's "How Much Garbage..." Visions International 52 (fall 96)
Serhi Lavreniuk's "A Kiss" Visions International 52 (fall 96)
Oleh Lysheha's "Song 212" and "Song 2" Visions International 52 (fall 96)
Volodymyr Svidzinsky's "Terrifying," Visions International 52 (fall 96)
Pavlo Tychyna's "Rhythm" & "Hollow" Visions International 52 (fall 96)
Attila Mohylny "Flying South Through the Night" Beacons; Magazine of Literary Translation (1995)
Vasyl Stefanyk "Early in the Morning She Combed Her Hair" Our Life (July-Aug 95)
Oleh Lysheha's "On Learning New Party Hymns" Index on Censorship (Mar 93)
Serhi Lavreniuk's "I Am Raphael" Index on Censorship (Mar 93)
Oksana Batiuk's "Columns" & "It's So Hard" Index on Censorship (Mar 93)
Volodymyr Svidzinsky's "Tired, Leaning on the Hills" Visions International 43
Mykola Riabchuk's "To Think About Eternity" Visions International 41
Volodymyr Svidzinsky's "The Pendulum Is Tired" Visions International 41
Attila Mohylny's "Beatles" Agni 36, Boston University (fall 92)
Natalka Bilotserkivets's "May" Agni 34, Boston University (fall 91)

 

Translations from Ukrainian into English Published in Anthologies translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps

Threads: Poems to Inspire Art, (New York,2023.)

Serhiy Zhadan's "Maybe it's time to start" 

Subterranean Fire: The Selected Poetry of Natalka Bilotserkivets, (Glagoslav, 2022.)

Natalka Bilotserkivets’s “May,” Saxophonist,” “A Knife” and “Crazed Airplanes” 

 Swirl of Words/Swirl of Worlds (PEER, UK, 2021)                                                            

Serhiy Zhadan’s “Take Only What Is Most Important”  

Oksana Zabuzhko: Selected Poems (Arrowsmith Press, 2020)

Oksana Zabuzhko's "Through the Looking Glass: Mrs. Merzhynsky"

The White Chalk of Days: Contemporary Ukrainian Literature Series (Academic Studies Press, 2017)
Serhiy Zhadan's "Chinese Cooking," “Hotel Business,” “Children’s Train,” “The Inner Color of Eyes,” "Alcohol" “Contraband,” "Paprika"“The Lord Sympathizes with Outsiders,” and “The Smallest Girl in Chinatown” Victor Neborak's "Fish,"  Andriy Bondar's "Slavic Gods" and "Roman Alphabet"

Words for War: New Poems from Ukraine (Boston: Ukrainian Research Institute Harvard University, 2017)
Serhiy Zhadan's "Take Only What Is Most Important"

Letters from Ukraine: Poetry Anthology (Dialogue Art Council: Lviv, 2016, 2016)
Serhiy Zhadan, "How Did We Build Our Homes" "Where Are You Coming From?" "So I Throw Down My Weapon"

UA/AU: Contemporary Poetry of Ukraine and Australia (Ternopil: Krok & Sidney: Meuse Press, 2011)
Serhiy Zhadan's "Paprika"

Contemporary Ukrainian Literature Series (Kennan Institute & Columbia University, December, 2010) 
Serhiy Zhadan's "Chinese Cooking," “Hotel Business,” “Children’s Train,” “The Inner Color of Eyes,” "Alcohol" “Contraband,” "Paprika," "...not to wake her up," “The Lord Sympathizes with Outsiders,” and “The Smallest Girl in Chinatown”

Modernism in Kyiv: Jubilant Experimentation (University of Toronto Press, 2010) 
Pavlo Tychyna’s “Dawn,” “Lull,” “The Highest Power,” “Rhythm,” "You Tell Me," and an excerpt from “In the Orchestra of the Cosmos” 
Les Kurbas’s “Premonition,” and excerpts from his diaries, Sehiy Zhadan’s “The End of Ukrainian Syllabotonic Verse” and “Legend of Sweet Michael and the Golden Gates”

Contemporary Ukrainian Literature Series (Kennan Institute & Columbia University, April, 2009) 
Andriy Bondar’s “Slavic Gods” and "Roman Alphabet"

New European Poets (Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, MN, 2008) 
Serhiy Zhadan’s “Alcohol”

Light and Confession: Contemporary Ukrainian Literature Series, (Kennan Institute & Columbia University, April, 2008) 
Victor Neborak’s “Flying Head” “What He Does,” and “Novel”

Andiy Bondar, (Poetry International Festival, Rotterdam 2005)
Andriy Bondar's "Stalin Was Right," "My Jesus Year," "Chemistry Teacher," "Robbie Williams,"
and "Primitive Forms of Accumulation"

Flying Head and Other Poems (Sribne Slovo: Lviv, 2005) 
Victor Neborak's "Fish," "Subjective Point of View," "What He Does," and "Novel"

Natalka Bilotserkivets, (Poetry International Festival: Rotterdam, 2002) 
Natalka Bilotserkivets' "Crazed Airplane" "A Knife" and "Saxophonist"

September 11, 2001 Reflections: A Time of Terror/ A Search for Healing,
edited by Sandra F. Alpert (Global Commitment Foundation: Washington, DC, 2002)
Pavlo Tychyna's "War" 

Tykhi rovmovy z vichnistiu (Quiet Conversations with Eternity)
a bilingual collection of Marta Tarnawsky's poems and their translations (Mosty Press, 1999) 
Marta Tarnawsky's "Via Victis" and "Rainbow"

India Ink: Poems by Ludmyla Taran, (Corvus Press, 1998) 
Ludmyla Taran's "Blues", "India Ink" "Like Him" "Where is My Robert Penn Warren" 
"How Much Garbage" and "The Old Clocks" 

Leading Contemporary Poets: An International Anthology (Poetry International, 1997) 
Ludmyla Taran's "Blues" and "India Ink", Victoria Stakh's "Ode to the Brain" and "Enough"

A Kingdom of Fallen Statue: Poems by Oksana Zabuzhko, (Wellspring Press, 1996)
Oksana Zabuzhko's "Through the Looking Glass" Mrs. Merzhinska"

From Three Worlds: Anthology of New Writing From Ukraine (Zephyr Press, 1996)
Victor Neborak's "The Flying Head"

Ten Years of Poetry from the Yara Theatre Workshops at Harvard,

20 of their translations from Ukrainian published (1997)

 

A Hundred Years of Youth: A Bilingual Anthology of 20th Century Ukrainian Poetry 
complied and edited by Olha Luchuk and Michael M. Naydan. Lviv: Litopys Press, 2000, 
includes 30 translations by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps:

 

Lesia Ukrainka's The Forest Song (Excerpts)
Pavlo Tychyna's "Pastels," "Dawn" "Terror," "Lull" and "Test"
Volodymyr Svidzinsky's "The Pendulum Is Tired" and "Tired, Leaning on the Hills"
Mikhail Semenko's "Village Landscape"
Oksana Senatovych's "Wife of an Artist" and "Pear"
Mykola Vorobyov's "Searches for Balance" and "Cage - Balcony - Frost - Dream"
Vasyl Holoborodko's "Her Name"
Mykola Miroshnychenko's "The Stars"
Oleh Lysheha's "Song 212" 
Mykola Riabchuk's "To Think About Eternity"
Natalka Bilotserkivets' "May" (Excerpt) and "A Knife"
Ludmyla Taran's "India Ink" and "The Blues"
Oksana Zabuzhko's "Letter from the Summer House"
Yuri Andrukhovych's "Library"
Victor Neborak's "Flying Head" and "Fish"
Yurko Pozaiak's "Come See Me Tomorrow"
Attila Mohylny's "Beatles" 
Anka Sereda's "In Our Blood" and "I Don't Want To Be a Poet"

 

In a Different Light: A Bilingual Anthology of Ukrainian Literature Translated into English by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps as Performed by Yara Arts Group, edited by Olha Luchuk. Lviv: Sribne Slovo, 2008

includes:


Yuri Andrukhovych’s “Library” 
Bohdan Ihor Antonych’s “Walk Out of the Room,” 
Oksana Batiuk’s “Columns of Hermetic Reality,” “It’s So Hard To be Somebody,” “Run,” “September Poem,” 
Natalka Bilotserkivets’s “Crazed Airplane,” “A Knife,” "May," “Saxophonist” 
Andriy Bondar’s “Slavic Gods,” “The Roman Alpabet,” 
Yurko Gudz’s “Mantra for the First Week of Winter,” 
Vasyl Holoborodko “Her Name” 
Yuriy Kovaliv’s “To See With the Eyes of a Blackbird” 
Serhiy Lavreniuk’s “I Am Raphael Without Hands,” “A Kiss,” “The Leaves,” 
Taras Luchuk’s “Dead Sea,” “Great Grandfather’s Stars,” “Refined Taste,” 
Oleh Lysheha’s “Bear,” “The Mountain,” “On Learning New Party Hymns,” “Song 2,” “Song 212,” “Swan,” 
Mykola Miroshchenko’s “The Stars,” 
Attila Mohylny’s "Beatles" “Blond,” “A Bridge Crosses the Pond, “ “Flying South through the Night,” “Spontaneous Motion,” 
Victor Neborak’s “Fish,” “Flying Head,” “Novel,” “Subjective Point of View,” “What He Does” 
Larysa Nedin’s “I Don’t Have,” 
Neda Nezhdana’s “We Belong in the Darkness” 
Yurko Pozayak’s “Come See Me Tomorrow,” 
Maria Rewakowicz’s “Home,” 
Mykola Riabchuk’s “To Think About Eternity 
Ihor Rymaruk’s “Glossolalia,” 
Mykhailo Semenko’s “Village Landscape” 
Oksana Senatovych’s “Ballad About Hands,” “Pear,” “Wife of an Artist” 
Anka Sereda’s “I Don’t Want To Be a Poet,” “In Our Blood,” 
Taras Shevchenko’s "A Cloud Floating Behind the Sun" “In God’s Home Behind the Front Door,” “The Sky’s Unwashed,” 
Victoria Stakh’s “Enough,” “Ode to the Brain,”“Outdoors It’s Day” 
Vasyl Stefanyk’s “Early in the Morning She Combed Her Hair,” 
Volodymyr Svidzinsky’s “The Monring Gathers,” “The Pendelum’s Tired,” “Terrifying,” “Tired, Leaning on the Hills,”

Ludmyla Taran’s “ The Blues,” “India Ink,”

“How Much Garbage,” “Like Him,” “The Old Clocks,” “Where is My Robert Penn Warren” 
Marta Tarnawsky’s “Rainbow,” “Vae Victis,” 
Antonina Tsvit’s “I’m Flying,” 
Pavlo Tychyna’s “Autumn,” “Chauvinistic,” “Dawn,” “Evohe!” “From My Diary. III” “The Highest Power,” Hollow,” “Lull,” “Over Sheer Cliffs,” “Pastels,” Rhythm,” “Terror” “Test,” "You Tell Me," “War,” “We Live as a Commune. X” “Wheat Rot,” 
Mykola Vorobiov’s “Cage-Balcony-Frost-Dream,” "Searches for Balance” 
Yuriy Vynnychuk’s “Letters to Mother,” 
Oksana Zabuzhko’s “Cinderella (A Contemporary Version),” “Clytemnestra,” “Despite It All It Was You I Loved,” “Finale. Counterpoint.” “An Ironic Nocturne,” “Letter from the Summer House,” “Love,” “A Portrait: K.M. Hrushevska in Her Youth,” “Prypiat. A Still Life,” “Symptoms of Poetry,” “Through the Looking Glass: Mrs. Merzhynsky” 
Serhiy Zhadan’s “The End of Ukrainian Syllabotonic Verse,” 
Iryna Zhylenko’s "In the Country House" 

Verse Drama: 
Lesia Ukrainka’s The Forest Song 

Traditional material: 
Epics: “About a Sister and a Brother,””About a Widow,” “Captive’s Lament,” 
Incantations: Incantation to Water at Midsummer,” “Incantation to the Sun,” “Incantation to Cleanse the Waters,” 
Traditional Songs: “Hold a Candle,” White Dove” 
Traditional Winter Songs: “A Bee Flies through the Field,” “Before the World Began,” “Honest Woman, Wake Up, Don’t Sleep,” “The Wind Blows from Above”

 

Translations from Ukrainian into English on poetry websites translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps

Pavlo Tychyna’s “Autumn” from Instead of Sonnets or Octaves, December 2023. https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2023/12/autumn-pavlo-tychyna.html

Serhiy Zhadan’s “Of all literature,” “In the summertime” and “This is a good opportunity to be thankful” in Poetry Society of America, October 2023,  https://poetrysociety.org/poems-essays/visiting-poet/visiting-poet-ilya-kaminsky-on-serhiy-zhadan

Aponie, May 1,2022 Iryna Shuvalova’s “If I am not being killed,”Apofenie May, 1, 2022

https://www.apofenie.com/poetry/2022/5/1/if-i-am-not-being-killed?fbclid=IwAR2Q29CwO3ZHKjfN1Rm8iqFtsDnL_DrGgMABRqJO4LSNMckhSo6KGYMjXX8

Ukrainian Poetry in Translation: Special Feature Part I of National Translation Organization March 23, 2022

Serhiy Zhadan’s “Take only what is most important” & “Headphones” https://nationaltranslationmonth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Ukrainian-Poetry-in-Translation_Part-I.pdf?fbclid=IwAR04wUMMOEaPV-GvPE8GH0E7av1cJWNxqFR00XEONiO8okzWjyxzxa76bJc

Ukrainian Poetry in Translation: Special Feature Part II of National Translation Organization March 28, 2022

Pavlo Tychyna’s ‘War” and Kateryna Babkina’s “Give Me a Brother” https://nationaltranslationmonth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Ukrainian-Poetry-in-Translation_Part-II.pdf

Culture Hub March 2022 Pavlo Tychyna’s “Terror,” Volodymyr Svidzinsky’s “Terror” and “The Pendulum Is Tired.” https://lithub.com/on-the-ukrainian-poets-who-lived-and-died-under-soviet-suppression/

Asymptote Oct 2014 from Serhiy Zhadan’s “The End of Ukrainian Syllabotonic Verse.”

Poetry International Website Rotterdam Festival, Serhiy Zhadan's "Mushrooms of Donbas", "Lukoil" and "Paprika"

The Madhatters Review 12, Serhiy Zhadan’s “To Live Means to Die,” “Post Office,” “Bookies,”

   “Funeral Orchestra,” and “Socialism”

Serhiy Zhadan's "Mushrooms of Donbas""Lukoil" and "Paprika" Poetry International Website Rotterdam Festival
Serhiy Zhadan's “To Live Means to Die,” “Post Office,” “Bookies,” “Funeral Orchestra,” and “Socialism” The Madhatters Review 12, 
Andriy Bondar’s “Slavic Gods” Wilson Center- On Demand
Serhiy Zhadan’s “Serbo-Croatian” and “Cleaning Ladies in the Corridor”Napalm Health Spa Report 2004 
Yuri Andrukhovych's "Library" Poetry International Website 
Andriy Bondar's "Slavic God's" and "The Roman Alphabeth" Poetry International Website 
Oleh Lysheha's "Bear""Song 2",and "Song 212", Poetry International Website 
Serhiy Zhadan's "Chinese Cooking", "History of Culture at the Turn of the Century," and "Polish Rock" Poetry International Website 

 

 

Published Folk Song Translations from Ukrainian into English in CD linear notes & booklets: 
translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps

5 traditional songs for:CD booklet to Kosmach Musicians Atlantic Records, 2004

33 traditional songs for: CD booklet to Bervy Bervikovy: Songs from Potichok, a village called "Little Creek" Atlantic Records, 2004 

23 traditional songs from the Carpathians
CD booklet to Karpatia: Ethnic Music From Ukraine Atalantic Records, 2003 

"Oh Light a Candle Mother," "Lullaby," "The Wanderer's Song," "Widow," "Spring Calling Songs" 
CD booklet to Mariana Sadovska: Songs I Learned in Ukraine Global Village, 2001 

"Oh Handsome and Bright," "Carol From the Bukovina Region," "The Well," "Spring Songs," "Polyphonic Songs," "Peacock," "Lament," "In the Woods, and "Salt-Trader's Song" 
CD booklet to Prairie Night and Peacock Feathers by Paris to Kiev Music Ensemble Olesia Records, 2000

Published Translations from English into Ukrainian
translated by Oksana Batiuk and Virlana Tkacz see: More

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