“Ми тут” — When a stranger reads your words

I am touched that Kirk Lawrence-Howard chose to read my poem “Ми тут” as part of a series of poems he has been reading in support of Ukraine.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone else (definitely not someone whom I do not know) read one of my poems. I got choked up, it’s such a gift.
He also shares several links to places people can donate and offer support.

Sincere thanks, Kirk, for your support of Ukraine and Ukrainian voices. 

He also read my friend Ksenia Horobchenko‘s powerful poem, “River Near Chornobyl” from her collection, A Sky Full of Wings.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting another update for our Kickstarter as we get closer to the end of the campaign. Just over a week left, and it’s not too late to become a backer — $1 for an ebook version or $20 for a print copy of Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora. 

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 

Embroidered Worlds Meets First Kickstarter Goal in 24 Hours!

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!