Books by Serhiy Zhadan
Serhiy Zhadan is a Ukrainian poet, novelist, singer and activist.
Voroshilovgrad
Serhiy Zhadan, Reilly Costigan-Humes & Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler (translators)
“Zhadan is my favorite writer and poet who represents Eastern Ukraine, a multi-faceted talent. He’s a public intellectual, an activist, an essayist, and a novelist. Voroshilovgrad is a 2010 novel about Eastern Ukraine in the twentieth century…It was written before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it talks about the homecoming of the main hero…Voroshilovgrad is an ideal entry point into Zhadan’s work. From there, you can delve into his writing and enjoy his poetry and later works.” Read more...
Sasha Dovzhyk, Literary Scholar
How Fire Descends: New and Selected Poems
by Serhiy Zhadan
Not due out in English till January 2024, this is a collection of poems by Ukrainian novelist Serhiy Zhadan about a war which has got a lot of public attention since 2022, but has been going on since 2014 with thousands of Ukrainians killed.
“The Orphanage is an extremely interesting book. Serhiy Zhadan comes from Eastern Ukraine and during Maidan was taking part in the clashes in the second-largest Ukrainian city, Kharkiv, which is now under the threat of possible attack.” Read more...
The best books on Ukraine and Russia
Serhii Plokhy, Historian
“He’s a brilliant writer, a poet, novelist, and the lead singer of the ska band Sobaky v Kosmosi (Dogs in Outer Space.) He is the bard of eastern Ukraine. It’s a novel composed of different stories, mostly prose with some poetry as well. The stories are set in Kharkiv, a city in eastern Ukraine where Zhadan, who is himself from the Donbas, now lives. It was unclear in spring of 2014 whether there was going to be a separatist rebellion in Kharkiv, whether it was also going to become part of the territory ensconced in war. Serhiy Zhadan is really a genius at drawing the reader into the inner lives of these characters in post-industrial, post-Soviet places. His literary influences are ones that American readers will understand: the Beat poets, Kerouac and Burroughs, magical realism. Despite the fact that he’s writing about people in a radically different time and place, it’s somehow very easily relatable. He has an uncanny ear for dialogue. And he evokes a deep love utterly devoid of sentimentality for these people about whom we have long known nothing.” Read more...
Interviews where books by Serhiy Zhadan were recommended
The best books on Ukraine, recommended by Marci Shore
The tumultuous history of Ukraine and its continuing upheavals are not well understood beyond its borders. Yale historian Marci Shore recommends the best books on the land of many identities and languages that is modern Ukraine.
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1
Ukraine and Russia: From Civilied Divorce to Uncivil War
by Paul D'Anieri -
2
Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know
by Serhy Yekelchyk -
3
Ukraine’s Nuclear Disarmament: A History
by Yuri Kostenko -
4
Ukraine in Histories and Stories: Essays by Ukrainian Intellectuals
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5
The Orphanage: A Novel
by Serhiy Zhadan
The best books on Ukraine and Russia, recommended by Serhii Plokhy
The best books on Ukraine and Russia, recommended by Serhii Plokhy
Thousands of people have been killed since 2014 in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, in a war that has been rife with disinformation, misleading narratives and false flag operations. Here Serhii Plokhy, Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University, recommends books to better understand the conflict, from an introductory work by an eminent historian to the latest work of some of Ukraine’s leading novelists.
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1
Voroshilovgrad
Serhiy Zhadan, Reilly Costigan-Humes & Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler (translators) -
2
Cassandra: A Dramatic Poem
by Lesia Ukrainka & Nina Murray (translator) -
3
The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister
by Olesya Khromeychuk -
4
The Moscoviad
by Yuri Andrukhovych, Vitaly Chernetsky (translator) -
5
The Torture Camp on Paradise Street
by Stanislav Aseyev, Nina Murray & Zenia Tomkins (translators)
The Best Ukrainian Literature, recommended by Sasha Dovzhyk
The Best Ukrainian Literature, recommended by Sasha Dovzhyk
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, many people around the world have become more familiar with the country’s recent history, but many of us still don’t know much about its literary traditions. Academic and activist Sasha Dovzhyk introduces five works of Ukrainian literature, from an early 20th-century dramatic poem to devastating first-person accounts of the war that started in 2014.