Ukraine: War and Words

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BBC Radio 4 - Ukraine: War and Words

An exploration of how the war in Ukraine is affecting the production of writing and books.

Michael Goldfarb reports from the cultural front line in Ukraine as authors, agents and translators work flat out to bring Ukrainian writing to a global readership.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there has been an explosion - real and metaphorical - of translation of Ukrainian-language literature. Michael Goldfarb travels to Lviv to the annual Book Forum to meet authors, agents and translators who are working flat out to bring Ukrainian writing to a global readership.

He looks at war's effect on the process of writing. Imagine you are midway through the first draft of a novel and then get uprooted by invasion. Can you ever go back to that work when the world in which you were creating it no longer exists?   

What are the differences between the Russian and Ukrainian languages - aside from spellings? Why has Russia for centuries tried to suppress the Ukrainian language? The Russian empire was multi-ethnic and multi-lingual, yet the Tsarist duma voted to prevent Ukrainian's use in schools. Is there a sensibility difference? 

Are Ukrainians who write in Russian now pariahs? Is the historic literature of Ukraine written in Russian, for example the work of Gogol, no longer to be considered part of Ukrainian patrimony?


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