Ukrainian Poetry Evening

Contact: http://ukrainianoxford.org/index.php?page=current-term

In FDR room at venue

Organised in conjunction with Kalyna Language Press
Supported by English PEN

Join Ukrainian poet Ihor Pavlyuk at St Antony’s College on 6 March for an evening of poetry and paganism and find out what Nobel Laureate's read in their spare time.

Ihor Pavlyuk, one of Ukraine's best contemporary poets, invites us to roam the forests of Ukraine with him while swigging vodka from a hip flask and watching pagan gods flicker among the birches. These poems combine beautifully wrought metaphors, transforming a shooting star into ‘candlelight glimpsed through water’ with an ancient landscape inhabited by pagan gods. Pavlyuk abandoned his studies at the St. Petersburg Military University to pursue a career as a poet, and was jailed as a result, prior to embarking on a life of rhyme. English translations of his visionary poems have appeared in Acumen, Asymptote and Envoi. Pavlyuk’s numerous poetry collections include Islands of Youth (Острови юності, 1990), Magma (Магма, 2005), Ukraine in Smoke (Україна в диму, 2009), Masculine Fortunetelling (Чоловічe ворожіння, 2013). His work has been translated into several languages including English, French, Polish, Russian and Japanese.

Ihor Pavlyuk is one of Europe’s most versatile poets — quite literally: he recently delivered an entire reading while standing on his head. These poems contain moments delicate as a snowflake: ‘The fragrance of crushed mint at dusk,/ The leaves yearning to fall/Before the snow comes’. The sweet yearning of this poetry will remain with you long after you have turned the final page. Ihor will read his own work in Ukrainian and Steve Komarnyckyj of Kalyna Language Press will recite his translations of Ihor's work.

There will also be several other guests including rising stars from Waterloo Press one of England's best radical poetry presses including prize winning poet and Sci-Fi author Naomi Foyle.

Entry: Free

Time: 7:00pm