Hear Ukrainian Fantastic Stories Read Aloud

I love hearing authors read their own work, especially when those authors are good readers. The first time I ever heard a “real live author” read their work was when I was in high school and went to see Anne Rice read in a bookstore in downtown Chicago. It blew my mind that I could actually talk with (well, shyly say hello to) the person who wrote it. That may have been the day authors became real people for me, watching Anne Rice sitting at a table talking to her fans.

I would not be introduced to conventions or fandom for another 20 years, but I did discover Stars Our Destination bookstore in college, which had a schedule of authors coming in to read and sign. Chicago was a frequent stop, and I was finally able to meet a few of my favorite authors in various bookstores around the city.

Today, thanks to the internet, we can watch readings from all over the world—live and recorded—and now I’m delighted to enjoy readings by writer-friends and colleagues who live in other cities and countries. It helps to hold me over until the next time I get to travel or attend a conference, where I can see and hug them in person.

Українсько-англійські читання ~ A Reading in Ukrainian and English

This weekend, Atthis Arts hosted a reading on YouTube, featuring our publisher, Emily Bell, as well as two of the authors and two of the translators from Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora: 

“The Rainbow Bridge” by Iryna Pasko,
translated by Hanna Leliv

“The Bike Shadow” by Yaryna Katorozh,
translated by Kateryna Darchyk

I was celebrating my birthday with my family when the reading was live on the air, so I watched the entire video the next day, grinning at the screen the entire time.

Translator Kateryna Darchyk hosted and did a wonderful job addressing both English and Ukrainian audiences. The two stories were read in their original Ukrainian by the authors; then Hanna read her translation of “The Rainbow Bridge” and Emily read Kateryna’s translation of “The Bike Shadow.”

It was SO good! Such a joy to listen to the stories read aloud after having read and worked with them while editing the anthology.  I invite you to check it out here:

The reading was free, but they were also raising money to help the Hospitallers in Ukraine, a volunteer organization of paramedics founded by Yana Zinkevich at the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine in 2014. The slogan of the Hospitallers is “Заради кожного життя” (“For the sake of every life”).

As we approach the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of February 24, 2022, organizations like the Hospitallers are doing such important work to help the people of Ukraine. You can donate at their website: https://www.hospitallers.life/ 

The physical books are still in customs in Kyiv on their way to our  authors and editors in Ukraine. They have not yet had the chance to hold Embroidered Worlds in their hands, but we are hoping that they soon will.

Thank you once more to everyone who helped us to make and share Embroidered Worlds. As Emily mentioned during the reading, if there are book clubs, libraries, or schools who are interested in reading Embroidered Worlds, they can get in touch with Atthis Arts.

The Embroidered Worlds Kickstarter project is eligible to be nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Related Work, and I’m eligible as one of the editors for Best Editor, Short Form. The following is from the Atthis Arts website:

We are asking you to consider “The Embroidered Worlds Funding Campaign” by Valya Dudycz Lupescu and E.D.E. Bell for Best Related Work. This includes our work securing an international grant after the already received grant was rescinded, and our community and culture celebrating crowdfunding campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atthisarts/embroidered-worlds/ featuring guest writers from around the world. Because of the grant requirements, the entire process from the start of crowdfunding through translation, editing, sensitivity reading, typesetting, and production, to full publication was done within eleven weeks starting 01 September 2023. This late-in-the-year release was therefore necessary after previous external delays, but put us in a difficult position for awards visibility.

The website also lists short stories from the collection that are eligible, as well as several other authors, editors, and stories that are eligible and were published by Atthis Arts. I am honored to be in such good company.

In Gratitude: A List of Charities

(A version of this post also appears as a Kickstarter update.)

On Saturday, September 30, 2023, 1,072 backers pledged $23,567 to help bring Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora to life. Our Kickstarter backers included people from all over the world!

We are so grateful for all the ways that people showed their support over the past month: becoming backers, sharing posts, telling friends, engaging with our updates. Together we created a global community of readers for these thirty fantastic stories, and we are so excited for people to read them.

Many people asked us about other ways to help the people in Ukraine. Kickstarter requires all funds raised to facilitate the project, and with the funds raised here we’ll be producing a beautiful book and sharing stories of Ukrainian culture, art, and resilience around the world. Again, thank you.

Our team understands the broad range of ways the Ukrainian people still need help, and we are committed to do what we can.

So we asked our authors and translators about the charities they work with and trust, and I want to share that list with you now:

Dobrobrat:

Dobrobat is a volunteer construction battalion that assists the survivors in the de-occupied territories in the urgent restoration of housing and social infrastructure.

http://dobrobat.in.ua/

Come Back Alive:

Protect the Sky is a joint charitable project organized by the charity foundation Come Back Alive and the Ukrainian postal company Nova Post. The project is designed to help Air Defense reduce their reaction time from minutes to seconds.

http://dobrobat.in.ua/

Unite with Ukraine:

Funds raised are being used to supply an evolving range of needs to the brave men and women on the front line, including: individual first aid kits; bullet-proof vests and helmets; night-vision goggles; and communication equipment and fuel, among other things.

https://unitewithukraine.com/

Chytomo magazine:

CHYTOMO is the largest independent media covering publishing and contemporary literary and cultural processes in Ukraine.

https://chytomo.com/en/

UA Animals:

Since the beginning of the full scale war, UA Animals has actively been helping animals within war zones: evacuate, provide feed and medicines for shelters.

https://uanimals.org/en/

Razom:

In a very short time, Razom has built an inspiring network of partners, volunteers, and donors that fuel the community, and consistently activate people in the United States and Ukraine to help Ukraine unlock its potential. Their projects are designed to have tangible, immediate manifestations of impact and provide opportunities for scalable growth ensuring that impact lasts.

Razom – Together we are Ukraine (razomforukraine.org)

United24:

UNITED24 is designed for collaboration with charities, partners, donors, and public figures worldwide. Their goal is to establish an efficient work process that brings Ukraine’s victory closer.

https://u24.gov.ua/projects

If you are looking for places to lend support, these are just a few of the many organizations that exist to help

Thank you to all the people working tirelessly in Ukraine and in other parts of the world: healing the wounded, tending to the dying, comforting the grieving, providing shelter, food, education, and resources, caring for the land, working to bring an end to violence and injustice. There is so much work to be done all around this beautiful planet we call home.

I believe that together we can make a positive difference, and I hope that the ripples of support and love and community continue to expand outward.

I thank you wholeheartedly. Щиро вам дякую.

How Amazing Could This Ukrainian SFF Anthology Get?

On September 4, 2023, we reached a landmark $10,000 goal for the Embroidered Worlds anthology Kickstarter. Thank you! Now we work to spread the word far and wide about this collection of Ukrainian authors, many of whom have never been translated into English before.

The more people we can reach during the Kickstarter campaign, the more incentives we can unlock to make this book even more special!

If we reach our $30,000 goal, we will hire three Ukrainian artists to create interior illustrations, and include those in all editions of the book.

At $50,000 we will make available a limited-edition, numbered hardcover, with art prints of the cover and illustrations that can be framed.

HOW AMAZING WOULD IT BE TO HAVE ILLUSTRATED, LIMITED-EDITION NUMBERED HARDCOVERS WITH ART PRINTS!?!

We raised $10,000 in 4 days. Can we double that in a week?

Embroidered Worlds is scheduled for publication in December 2023. Anyone wishing to join in supporting the book has until Sept. 30 to do so, at levels ranging from a $1 ebook order to a $1,000 benefactor gift.

In the Kickstarter video that launched our project, my segment follows the two Ukrainian editors. I wanted to share it here.

I invite you to follow the link below and order your copy of Embroidered Worlds, and please spread the word to other readers who might like to add it to their libraries. For $20 you can order a paperback edition and also get an e-book copy!

Between readers of imaginative fiction and supporters of Ukraine, the potential audience for this book is large and diverse. Please support and share as you can!

Thank you to everyone who has pledged and shared so far! (If you have ideas how to spread the word, reach out. I welcome your ideas!)

E

Find Embroidered Worlds on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atthisarts/embroidered-worlds?ref=9cyosw