Tag: ukrainian literature

Hear Ukrainian Fantastic Stories Read Aloud

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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.

British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) longlist for Best Collection

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Last week, the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) released their longlist of nominees for the BSFA Awards, for work published in 2023. Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora was among those listed for Best Collections! I am honored that we were included; I’m also so excited to see Ukrainian fiction on a list like this.
When I was a young reader in the 80s and 90s, I dreamed of such an opportunity; and I am heartened to know that readers are enjoying and discussing these stories by writers in Ukraine and the Diaspora.
There are so many thoughtful collections and fantastic stories on this list, and I encourage you to take a look. Congratulations to my incredible co-editors, Olha Brylova & Iryna Pasko and to all the nominees.

Embroidered Worlds Meets First Kickstarter Goal in 24 Hours!

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We reached our first Kickstarter goal of $5000 in less than 24 hours! That’s amazing!

Thank you thank you thank you!

Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far! Щиро дякуємо! 

Someone asked me a question about the stretch goals, so I wanted to take a moment to explain.

The way Kickstarter is set up, if a project does not reach its funding goal, none of the rewards are processed and the money is not charged. So instead it encourages creators to establish a series of goals, starting small and building step by step toward the most ambitious version of the final product.

In planning the Embroidered Worlds Kickstarter campaign, we were able to set different goals along the way. We would love to achieve all of them, but we started modestly. That way, no matter what, once we were funded we would be able to publish the book of stories by Ukrainian writers published in English for the first time!  We have now achieved this!

This means we can turn our attention to the next goals, and share the project with more people. Hopefully we can broaden our audience of readers!

  • With our base funding of $5000, we will be able to produce and print the book, with, at a minimum, the stories funded by the grant, as well as translations into English for a story written in Ukrainian by Tatiana Adamenko and stories written in Hungarian by Károj D. Balla and Éva Berniczky.
  • At $7000 we can commit to adding a selection of diaspora stories including ones by R.B. Lemberg, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, and Natalka Roshak, and also pay all three editors for their work.
  • At $10,000 we will produce a completed collection, including stories by Elizabeth Bear, Anatoly Belilovsky, David Demchuk, Halyna Lipatova, Askold Melnyczuk, and Mikhailo Nazarenko, Stefan O. Rak, and A.D. Sui.
  • At $20,000 we will hire a Ukrainian artist to design custom bookplates for this campaign only that will show that your copy is an original Founder edition. These bookplates will be sent with all print copies (for some international shipments, in separate packaging).
  • At $25,000 we’ll provide all backers a swag pack of cool, exclusive digital rewards from Atthis Arts.
  • At $30,000 we will hire three Ukrainian artists for interior illustrations, and include those in the book, all editions.
  • At $50,000 we will make available a limited-edition, numbered hardcover, with art prints of the cover and illustrations that can be framed.

Each level allow us to enhance the reading experience for our backers. (How amazing would it be to be able to make a limited-edition, numbered hardcover edition! Art prints!)

Achieving these stretch goals also means that more books are being ordered and shared! In turn, that makes it possible for our publisher to continue producing more wonderful projects in the future. I’ll keep posting updates and information here, and if you’re a backer, you’ll be receiving updates from me and others on the Kickstarter page as we go through this campaign.

Thank you again for your support, generosity, and enthusiasm!

Neil Gaiman delivered a commencement speech that was published in a book, “Make Good Art.” I’ve quoted from it before, because Neil is wise and there are a lot of good gems in there. I’d like to leave you with this:

And remember that whatever discipline you are in, whether you are a musician or a photographer, a fine artist or a cartoonist, a writer, a dancer, a designer, whatever you do you have one thing that’s unique. You have the ability to make art.

And for me, and for so many of the people I have known, that’s been a lifesaver. The ultimate lifesaver. It gets you through good times and it gets you through the other ones.

Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do.

Make good art.

Thank you again. We are able to make good art because of your support. Thank you.

Let’s keep making good art. Together!