Kate Tsurkan
@katetsurkan.bsky.social
culture reporter at The Kyiv Independent, chief editor at Apofenie, translator, art collector, mom
In the final text for our Hidden Cannon series, I wrote about dissident Ukrainian poet Vasyl Stus, who perished in a Russian penal colony in 1985. My latest for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/vasyl-stus/
How a dissident poet became Ukraine’s moral compass
Editor's Note: This story is part of the "Hidden Canon" – a special series celebrating Ukrainian classic literature and aiming to bring it to a wider international audience. The series is supported b...
kyivindependent.com
I have relaunched my literary project @apofeniemagazine.bsky.social, and I know the support we once enjoyed will return when we publish big-name authors again. However, if you want to help us get a head start, please do become a patron today! www.patreon.com/c/apofenie
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Get more from Apofenie on Patreon. Join for free or become a member for just $5/month. Apofenie is a quarterly online literary journal founded in 2017.…
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What happens when absence becomes a form? @apofeniemagazine.bsky.social is open for submissions for our Winter 2027 Issue. We welcome fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and photography submissions. Read more at the link below. www.apofenie.com/winter-2027-...
Winter 2027 Call for Submissions — APOFENIE
apofenie.com
My literary project @apofeniemagazine.bsky.social is back with themed issues. Read submission guidelines for our planned Winter 2027 Issue centered around the theme ABSENCE at the link. www.apofenie.com/winter-2027-...
Winter 2027 Call for Submissions — APOFENIE
apofenie.com
1.5 million Ukrainian books have been destroyed in July alone during Russian attacks. I spoke to publishers who were affected, and why continuing their business is the only option. My latest for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-pu...
Ukrainian publishers stand strong despite enormous financial losses from Russian attacks
The moment Svitlana Paveletska, co-founder of Knyholav, received the news that the mass attack on July 19 had wiped out her publishing house's warehouse in Kyiv, she felt an overwhelming wave of grief...
kyivindependent.com
For @kyivindependent.com, I wrote about the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra's rich, centuries-old Ukrainian history — and how Russia's barbaric attack is only the latest attempt to destroy it. kyivindependent.com/from-soviet-...
'One of the holiest places' — Why Kyiv's ancient Pechersk monastery is so important for Ukraine
The Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, one of Orthodox Christianity's oldest and most sacred monasteries, was among the targets in Russia's latest overnight attack on June 15. Images of ...
kyivindependent.com
The latest Russian attacks on Ukraine’s cultural heritage, as reported by @katetsurkan.bsky.social
Russia's latest assault on Kyiv turns Ukraine's cultural heritage into another front line
In one of the most devastating attacks on Kyiv since the start of the full-scale war, Russia’s missiles and drones targeted some of the city’s most treasured cultural landmarks. The National Art Muse...
kyivindependent.com
One of Ukraine's most iconic artists is in a court battle to protect the rights to his work. His ordeal raises questions of how the state should protect those who are, quite literally, national treasures. My latest for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/one-of-ukrai...
‘Shameful story’ — How Ukraine’s iconic 89-year-old painter got scammed out of rights to his own work
At nearly 90, the Ukrainian painter Ivan Marchuk — widely regarded as one of the country's most important living artists — has found himself fighting in court to maintain the full creative rights to h...
kyivindependent.com
Read more Moldovan literature! The great Tatiana Țîbuleac's novel "The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes" is now available in English translation. My latest book review for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/loss-and-lon...
Loss and loneliness in a contemporary Moldovan classic
From the early pages of "The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes," we are swimming in the protagonist Aleksy's grief. The story begins at a point in his late teenage years when he "hated (his mother) more...
kyivindependent.com
Read more Moldovan literature! The great Tatiana Țîbuleac's novel "The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes" is now available in English translation. My latest book review for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/loss-and-lon...
Loss and loneliness in a contemporary Moldovan classic
From the early pages of "The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes," we are swimming in the protagonist Aleksy's grief. The story begins at a point in his late teenage years when he "hated (his mother) more...
kyivindependent.com
Cover reveal! The English translation of Khrystia Vengryniuk's debut novel, originally published in Ukraine in 2013, willl be released by Sandorf Passage this November. Cover design by Anastasiia Starko. One of my favorite novels. A total fever dream. We'll share the pre-order link soon.
Cover reveal! The English translation of Khrystia Vengryniuk's debut novel, originally published in Ukraine in 2013, willl be released by Sandorf Passage this November. Cover design by Anastasiia Starko. One of my favorite novels. A total fever dream. We'll share the pre-order link soon.
Few understand this reality better than Igor Pomerantsev, a veteran radio broadcaster, poet, and former Soviet dissident. @katetsurkan.bsky.social kyivindependent.com/a-cult-of-de...
‘A cult of death’ — Former Soviet dissident on Russia and authoritarianism's global rise
In an authoritarian society, it’s free thinkers who are targeted by those in power. A book, a social media post, a private conversation — anything can be used against those who refuse to conform in a ...
kyivindependent.com
I wrote about the Invisible Gallery Project which aims to highlight Ukrainian artists overshadowed by a legacy of Russian imperialism. An ongoing project worth following. My latest for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/ukraines-art...
Bringing art to the cemetery — How 'The Invisible Gallery' reclaims legacy overshadowed by Russian imperialism
In Ukraine's cemeteries, some graves are more than symbols of memory. They hold the truth about the country's enduring place in European culture, testifying to centuries of creative achievement and in...
kyivindependent.com
The Ukrainian Institute and @kyivindependent.com have teamed up to popularize Ukrainian classics! Read more at the press release. kyivindependent.com/rediscoverin...
Rediscovering Ukraine’s literary heritage: Ukrainian Institute and Kyiv Independent launch 'The Hidden Canon'
At the initiative of the Ukrainian Institute, the Kyiv Independent announces the launch of "The Hidden Canon: Ukraine's Literary Iconoclasts," a new series celebrating Ukrainian classic literature wit...
kyivindependent.com
I reported on Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’s new Russian Studies certificate program and why it matters—for Ukraine’s future specialists and for rethinking Russian Studies abroad. My latest for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/in-the-middl...
In the middle of war, Ukraine's top university reimagines Russian Studies
Eleven years into Russia’s war, a Ukrainian university is forging ahead with an unexpected academic pursuit: launching a Russian Studies program to study the country that had imposed itself on Ukraine...
kyivindependent.com
The greatest motivation is when your dear friend, a far more accomplished writer, reads the start of your novel and christens it "an insane fever dream," only to add "but keep leaning into it, it works."
Reunited with Slavoj Žižek to talk about everything from maternal tyranny to collective spiritual suicide. Check out our wide-ranging conversation at the Daily Humanity Dispatch. dailyhumanitydispatch.substack.com/p/slavoj-ziz...
Slavoj Žižek: There is no humanity without our small, everyday, seemingly meaningless rituals
Exclusive! From Maternal Tyranny to Collective Spiritual Suicide: Žižek on AI, Europe, and Our Growing Unwillingness to Face Reality
dailyhumanitydispatch.substack.com
My article for @kyivindependent.com on the wonderful ongoing Vasyl Stus exhibition at Mystetskyi Arsenal. With thanks to the curatorial project manager, Yulia Naidukh, and Dmytro Stus, Vasyl's son, for their comments. kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-po...
The Soviets tried to silence Ukrainian poet Vasyl Stus. A new exhibition honors his legacy
While the Soviet authorities promoted their vision of ideological "universalism" — a homogenized identity that suppressed national cultures — dissenting voices were silenced through arrests, intimidat...
kyivindependent.com
Reunited with Slavoj Žižek to talk about everything from maternal tyranny to collective spiritual suicide. Check out our wide-ranging conversation at the Daily Humanity Dispatch. dailyhumanitydispatch.substack.com/p/slavoj-ziz...
Slavoj Žižek: There is no humanity without our small, everyday, seemingly meaningless rituals
Exclusive! From Maternal Tyranny to Collective Spiritual Suicide: Žižek on AI, Europe, and Our Growing Unwillingness to Face Reality
dailyhumanitydispatch.substack.com
Finally, my translator’s copies of Khrystia Vengryniuk’s LONG EYES have arrived in Ukraine. 👁️ 👄 👁️ She’s melancholic, she’s beautiful, she’s everything you didn’t know you needed. Order your copy here: losthorsepress.org/catalog/long...
My interview with the always great Andriy Lyubka about returning to fiction writing, why Ukrainian books deserve less sad endings, and how a writer's responsibility changes during war. My latest for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/bring-ukrain...
'Bring Ukraine more weapons' — author Andriy Lyubka on cultural diplomacy's main wartime role
When the full-scale invasion began, Andriy Lyubka struggled to write. A celebrated Ukrainian writer and translator, he turned instead to fundraising, logistics, and delivering used cars to the front f...
kyivindependent.com
I reviewed Darya Tsymbalyuk's soul-crushing yet vital book "Ecocide in Ukraine," my latest for @kyivindependent.com. kyivindependent.com/new-book-exp...
New book exposes Russia’s ecocide as a war against Ukraine’s land – and memory
When Russia destroyed Ukraine’s Kakhovka Hydroelectric Dam in June 2023, unleashing catastrophic floods across the country’s south, it seemed like such a blatant act of environmental and humanitarian ...
kyivindependent.com
Valerian Pidmohylnyi’s “The City” now has a fresh new English translation. I reviewed this masterpiece of 20th century literature for @kyivindependent.com. He could have written more great novels if he hadn’t been executed in Russia in 1937… kyivindependent.com/one-of-the-g...
One of the greatest 20th century Ukrainian novels, now in English translation
Overwhelmed by the buzzing nightlife of Khreshchatyk Street in central Kyiv, Stepan Radchenko, the despondent protagonist of Valerian Pidmohylnyi’s novel “The City,” looks up at the moon for solace an...
kyivindependent.com
A short prose piece I wrote after Russian drones and missiles targeted my Chernivtsi—many thanks to the editors at La Piccioletta Barca for giving it a home. www.picciolettabarca.com/posts/iron-j...
La Piccioletta Barca | Iron-jawed beasts - by Kate Tsurkan
In the hush of the grass, they coil and keep watch. Before, I would slip through the ...
picciolettabarca.com
A short prose piece I wrote after Russian drones and missiles targeted my Chernivtsi—many thanks to the editors at La Piccioletta Barca for giving it a home. www.picciolettabarca.com/posts/iron-j...
La Piccioletta Barca | Iron-jawed beasts - by Kate Tsurkan
In the hush of the grass, they coil and keep watch. Before, I would slip through the ...
picciolettabarca.com
The Opera Aperta team is bringing their hit production "Gaia-24" back to Kyiv this November. I wrote about how an opera can be powerful messaging against Russia's ecocide against Ukraine. My latest for @kyivindependent.com kyivindependent.com/art-after-ap...
Art after apocalypse — opera spurred by Russia’s ecocide in Ukraine to return to Kyiv
Editor's Note: The Kyiv Independent is a media partner of the "Gaia-24" performance on Nov. 27 in Kyiv. Even in the midst of Russia’s ecocide against Ukraine — where forests are scorched, rivers are ...
kyivindependent.com
‘A word fallen out of language’ and other poems — APOFENIE by Milena Findeis translated by Kate Tsurkan www.apofenie.com/the-latest-c...
‘A word fallen out of language’ and other poems — APOFENIE
by Milena Findeis In the mouth, the word to taste to chew It hums in the ears is rolled by the eyes cut apart by grimaces Spread with hashtags processed in the news stream until it ends, checked o...
apofenie.com