Serhiy Zhadan is the author of 12 poetry and 8 prose compilations.
In March 2008, the Russian translation of his novel “Anarchy in the UKR” made the short list of the National Bestseller Prize. It was also a contender for "Book of the Year" at the 2008 Moscow International Book Exhibition. His novel “Anthem of Democratic Youth” has been adapted for the stage and is being performed at the Ivan Franco National Academic Drama Theater in Kyiv.
Zhadan translates poetry from German, English, Belarusian, and Russian; he has translated works of poets such as Paul Celan and Charles Bukowski. His own works have been translated into German, English, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Russian, Hungarian, Georgian, Armenian, Swedish and Czech. Serhiy Zhadan participated at "Rock for change" rally in 2013 and in Euromaidan demonstrations in Kharkiv.
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I searched for her for a long time. She changed
her number,
left town, did not use social media.
I couldn’t find her through friends,
or through members of her church.
Then she wrote, describing what she was up to,
her journey, the new situation, and how she was getting
used to it.
She wrote about her brother, actually,
I think that’s why she wrote –
to tell us about her brother and his death.
Maybe, I wasn’t the only person she turned to, at least
I wasn’t the first. She wrote too calmly.
She wrote, they were all caught in one round of fire.
Then the people returned, wanted
to recover their dead. Or rather what was left
of them. The legs were the biggest problem. Everybody
needs two legs. That’s how they assembled them,
so each had two legs. It was best if they were
about the same size.
Her brother was a musician. He had a good guitar,
which people constantly borrowed.
“What should I do with it now?” she asked.
“I picked it up and tried to play, but only cut my fingers.
It was very painful. They still haven’t healed.”
translated from Ukrainian by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps