Shuvalova Iryna
Poet, translator and scholar from Ukraine. Born in Kyiv in 1986, she holds an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College in the US (2014) where she was a Fulbright scholar, and a PhD in Slavonic Studies from the University of Cambridge (2020) where she was a Gates Cambridge scholar. At Cambridge, she also taught a Ukrainian language course.
As of late 2019, Iryna authored four books of poetry: Ran, Os, Az, and the bilingual Pray to the Empty Wells. Her next poetry collection stoneorchardwoods is due out in spring 2020 with the Old Lion’s publishing House in Lviv.
Iryna’s writing has been widely anthologized, and published in periodicals in Ukraine and beyond, including Modern Poetry in Translation, International Poetry Review, Podium Literatur, Radar, and others. Her poems have been translated into nine languages.
Her own translations into Ukrainian include, most recently, Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey (2019) and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi (2016). Her translations appeared in Ambit, Modern Poetry in Translation, Poem, and Words Without Borders. In 2009, she co-edited the first anthology of queer literature in Ukraine 120 Pages of ‘Sodom’.
She has been awarded numerous prizes for poetry and translation, including the first prize for poetry in the Smoloskyp Literary Competition (2010) and Stephen Spender / Joseph Brodsky Prize (2012). Since 2017, she has been supporting English PEN as an expert on Ukrainian translation projects.
Iryna’s performed her poetry at multiple readings and festivals, including the Oslo International Poetry Festival in 2018. She has also taken part in a number of international writing residences and fellowships, including the Hawthornden Castle Fellowship in 2015. Currently, she lives and works in China.
Bibliography
I. ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK:
1. Books of poetry in Ukrainian:
2025 (Forthcoming) Ia Ne Znaiu Tsiei Movy (I Don’t Speak This Language). Kyiv: Safran.
2024. Kinechni Pisni (Endsongs). Lviv: VSL.
2020. Kaminsadlis (Stoneorchardwoods). Lviv: VSL.
2014. Az. Kyiv: Elektroknyha.
2014. Os. Kyiv: Smoloskyp.
2011. Ran. Kyiv: Smoloskyp.
2. Books of poetry in translation:
2026 (Forthcoming) [Italian] Canzoni finali. Novara: Interlinea.
2025 (Forthcoming) [Swedish] Slutsånger. Stockholm: 20TAL.
2025 (Forthcoming) [Norwegian] Ingen Planar Om å Bli Verande. Oslo: Aschehoug.
2023 [Polish] Niewyrażalne. Krasnogruda: Dwór Miłosza.
2019. [English ] Pray to the Empty Wells. Sandpoint, ID: Lost Horse Press.
3. Poems in anthologies (selected):
2025 [English] (Forthcoming) The Waste Land Project (chapbook). Montreal: Vallum.
2025 [Portuguese] (Forthcoming) Antologia de Poesia Ucraniana (working title). Editora Contracapa.
2025 [Romanian] (Forthcoming) The Book of War. 10 Ukrainian Poets (working title). Bucharest: ARC
2024 [Spanish] Poesia Ucraniana. La Tortuga Búlgara Ediciones.
2024 [German] Den Krieg Übersetzen. edition.FOTO.tapeta.
2023 [Ukrainian] Pomizh syren (Amidst the Sirens). Kharkiv: Vivat.
2023 [English] In the Hour of War: Poems from Ukraine. Boston: Arrowsmith Press.
2023 [Italian] Poeti d’Ucrania. Anthology of Ukrainian Poetry (working title).
Milan: Mondadori.
2023 [Ukrainian] Viina 2022 (War 2022). Ed. by Volodymyr Rafeenko. Kyiv: VSL.
2022 [German] Säe den Weizen aus, Ukraine. The Ukrainian-Georgian Anthology. Berlin: KLAK Verlag.
2022 [Spanish] Encuentros. Cien poemas de Ucrania y Polonia. Instytut Literatury Kraków.
2022 [Arabic] Ukrainian Poems and Paintings from the Lines of Fire. Cairo: Merit Publishing House.
2020 [Greek] Anthologiia Neon Oukranon Poeiton (Athology of New Ukrainian Poetry).
Athens: Vakxikon.
2019 [English] New York Elegies: Ukrainian Poetry on the City. Boston: Academic Studies Press.
2019 [English] Poetry from Ukraine. Kyiv: Ukrainian Book Institute.
2019 [Ukrainian] Ukrainska poeziia tretioho tysiacholittia (3rd millennium Ukrainian Poetry).
Kyiv: A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA.
2016 [English] Lysty z Ukrainy / Letters from Ukraine / Listy z Ukrainy. Ternopil: Krok.
2013 [French] Clarinettes Solaires: Anthologie de la Poésie Ukrainienne. Paris:
Institut Culturel de Solenzara.
2012 [Bulgarian] Nova ukrainska poeziia: antologiia. Varna: Slavianska Literaturna i Artistichna Akademiia
4. Work in the periodicals (selected):
A) In translation (30+ languages in total)
Mayura (2025, forthcoming) – translated into Kannada by Arif Raja; Li Poetry (2025, forthcoming) – translated into Mandarin Chinese by Hsu Yu-Hsuan; Radar (2025, forthcoming) – translated into Polish and German; Ho! (2025) – translated into Hebrew by Alex Averbuch; Miesięcznik Twórczość (2025) – translated into Polish by Aneta Kaminska; Vagant (2024) – translated into Norwegian by Ingunn Lunde; NELLE (2023) – translated into English by Uilleam Blacker; Words Without Borders (2023) – translated into English by Uilleam Blacker); Europski glasnik (2022) – translated into Croatian by Alla Tatarenko; Tupelo Quarterly (2022) – translated into English by Patrick Corness; Sisyphus (Ο ΣΙΣΥΦΟΣ) (2022) – translated into Greek by Michalis Patsis; Manuskripte (2022) – translated into German; Die Zeit (2022) – translated into German by Beatrix Kersten; The White Review (2022) – translated into English by Uilleam Blacker; Rappel: Parole-Création (2022) – translated into French by Ella Yevtushenko; 160 Kilometre (2022) – translated into Turkish by Ahmet Aktaş – Semiha Mengüllüoğlu; En-Movement (2022) – translated into Korean by Jong Hyeon Lee; Indigo (2022) - translated into Georgian by Shota Iatashvili; Versum (2022) – translated into Hungarian by Diana Vonnak; Jelenkor (2022) – translated into Hungarian by Diana Vonnak; The Continental (2022) – translated into English by Nina Murray; LitHub (2022) – translated into English by Amelia Glaser and Yuliya Ilchuk; Apofenie (2022) – translated into English by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps; Today (今天) (2022) – translated into Chinese by Sun Dong; Taubin (2022, 2023) – translated into Belarusian by Andrej Khadanovich; Gazeta Wyborcza (2022) – translated into Polish by Aneta Kaminska; Deichman (2022) – translated into Norwegian by Alicja Rose; translated into Russian by Dmitriy Kuzmin; Ukrainian Literature: A Journal of Translations (2021) – translated into English by Anand Dibble; Loch Raven Review (2018), Modern Poetry in Translation (2017), The Wolf (2017) – translated into English by Olena Jennings; Podium Literatur (2016) – translated into German by Maria Weissenboeck; TextOnly (2015) – translated into Russian by the author; Plav. Měsíčník pro Světovou Literaturu (2014) – translated into Czech by Petra Grietzova; Catch-Up (2012) – translated into English by Vitaly Chernetsky; International Poetry Review: Ukrainian Issue (2010) – translated into English by Michael Naydan; Radar (2010) – translated into Polish by Ksenija Kaniewska; into German by Chrystyna Nazarkevych and Anja Utler, etc.
B) In Ukrainian:
SHO (2022); Paradigma (2021); SHO (No 3-4, 2015); Ukrayinska Literaturna Hazeta (2014); Soty (2013); Kurier Kryvbasu (No276-277, 2012; No236– 237, 2009); Krytyka (essays and reviews, 2010 – 2012); Ukrajinsky Zhurnal (No5-6, 2012); Slovo Prosvity (July 18, 2011); Ukrayinska Literaturna Hazeta (No6, 2009); Berezil (No5–6, 2009); SHO (No3–4 and No12, 2009); Chetver (No30, 2008); Literatura i Zhyttia (No9–10, 2008)
II. TRANSLATIONS:
1. Book-length:
A) Ukrainian into English:
2027. (Forthcoming) Laiuk, Myroslav. One Day, I Will Fall for Real. (in talks with publishers)
2023. Slyvynskyi, Ostap. Winter King. Sandpoint, ID: Lost Horse Press.
(co-translated with Vitaly Chernetsky)
2019. Shuvalova, Iryna. Pray to the Empty Wells. Poems. Sandpoint, ID: Lost Horse Press.
(co-translated with Olena Jennings)
B) English into Ukrainian:
2024. Kaur, Rupi. Home Body. Kharkiv: Vivat (as Anhelina Budiak; co-translated).
2019. Kaur, Rupi. Milk and Honey. Kharkiv: Vivat.
2016. Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Lviv: VSL.
2016. Thornton, Sarah. 33 Artists in 3 Acts. Kyiv: ArtHuss. (co-translated)
2. Anthologies and projects:
2026. (Forthcoming). Poems in Anthology of 20th Century Ukrainian Poetry. NYC: World Poetry Books
2025. (Forthcoming) Poems in Ukrainian Literary Modernism. Boston: Academic Studies Press.
2025. (Forthcoming) Poems in Jewish-Ukrainian Poetry [working title]. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
2022. ‘Panda’ by Sashko Ushkalov in Love in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories. Dallas: Deep Vellum Press.
2021. Poems in Bazhan, Mykola. Quiet Spiders of the Hidden Soul. Boston: Academic Studies Press.
2019. Chubai, Solomiia. Poety. Lviv: Muzproduction UA. [Translation for the CD booklet of nine classic Ukrainian poems made into songs].
3. Translations in periodicals:
A) Ukrainian and Russian into English:
Selected poems by Natalia Beltchenko (Poem: International English Language Quarterly, #4 (2), 2016); Sergey Chegra's poems (Modern Poetry in Translation, #3, 2015); Sashko Ushkalov's short story ‘Panda’ (Words Without Borders, July 2014); Sergey Chegra, ‘Prayer of the Touch’ (Ambit, Issue 214, Autumn 2013).
B) English into Ukrainian:
Geoffrey Hill, ‘Mercian Hymns’ (Umbrella: Online Translation Almanac, Forthcoming 2025), Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, 'Exhumation' (Literature Ireland, 2022), Alice Oswald, selected poems (Umbrella: Online Translation Almanac, 2020), Loiuse Glück, selected poems (Umbrella: Online Translation Almanac, 2020), Ted Hughes, selected poems (Kurier Kryvbasu No4, 2015); Leland Bardwell, poems (in Rozmakh Kryl: Irish Poetry Anthology, Kyiv, 2013); Ted Hughes, selected poems (Kurier Kryvbasu No 274-275, 2012); Christoper Whyte, ‘Living and Writing’ essay (Krytyka No6 (176), 2012); Percy Bysshe Shelley, poems (Vsesvit No3-4, 2010); Christopher Whyte, poems (Almanac of the Literary Festival of the 16th Publishers' Forum in Lviv, 2009).
C) Chinese into Ukrainian:
Chinese Poets in Support of Ukraine, a selection of 12 poems (co-translated with Tetiana Reheshuk) (Chytomo, 2025 – forthcoming).
Essays:
2024. Shuvalova I. Homewards. Syn og Segn. (in Norwegian translation)
2021. Shuvalova, I. The Mova I Live in. London Ukrainian Review (re-print).
2021. Shuvalova, I. Mova, v Iakii Ia Zhyvu. Krytyka (translation).
2021. Shuvalova, I. The Mova I Live in [Part of ‘Ukraine at 30’ series]. The Los Angeles Review of Books.
Distinctions
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Literary:
2024 Shortlisted for the National Translation Award (in the US) for Winter King by Ostap Slyvynsky
2024 Winner of the AAUS Translation Prize (American Association of Ukrainian Studies) for Winter King
2021 Lviv UNESCO City of Literature Award – Special Prize (for kaminsadlis)
2021 Women in Arts Prize (Literature) by UN Women and Ukrainian Institute (short list)
2021 LitAkcent 2020 Book of the Year Award for poetry (for kaminsadlis) [Ukraine’s leading book ranking with the poetry nomination]
2020 PEN Ukraine Top Books of 2020 (for kaminsadlis)
2018 Pushcart Prize nominee for the poem #3 from the genius loci cycle
2015 European Cultural Foundation ‘Step Beyond’ grant
2015 Kurier Kryvbasu Literary Magazine Annual Award [Ukraine’s most prominent literary publication]
2015 Ten Outstanding Young People (TOYP) Ukraine: winner in the Cultural Achievements category
2014 LitAkcent Book of the Year Award top-3 shortlist (for Os and Az)
2013 Artist Support Grant of the "Development of Ukraine" Foundation
2012 Stephen Spender / Joseph Brodsky Prize for poetry translation from Russian into English (second prize)
2012 ‘Metaphor’ Prize for Poetry Translation
2012 Kurier Kryvbasu Literary Magazine Annual Award [Ukraine’s most prominent literary publication]
2012 Blahovist Best First Book Prize (for Ran)
2011 Unified Literary Contest Fellowship of the Summer Literary Seminars (SLS)
2010 Ukrainian-German Oles Honchar Prize (for Ran)
2010 Smoloskyp Literary Competition first prize for poetry (for Ran)
Academic:
2020 CIUS Research Grant (John Kolasky Memorial Endowment Fund)
2020 AAUS Translation Prize (Honorary Mention) for Pray to the Empty Wells
2020 Travel grant of the Fulbright Alumni Association of Ukraine
2016– 2019 Gates Cambridge Scholarship, University of Cambridge
2017 European Forum Alpbach KIGA Scholarship
2016, 2017 AHSS Language Bursary, University of Cambridge
2016 Rudewych PhD Scholarship, Monash University (declined)
2013 – 2014 Fulbright Graduate Student Scholarship, Dartmouth College
2013 – 2014 Full Tuition Scholarship (merit-based), Dartmouth College
LITERARY RESIDENCIES
2025 (Forthcoming) Literarisches Colloquium Berlin (Berlin, Germany)
2024 Chinese-European Arts Center (CEAC) Creative Residency (Xiamen, China)
2021 The Carpathian Literary Residence (Slavske, Ukraine)
2015 International Translators’ Workshop (Druskininkai, Lithuania)
2015 Hawthornden Castle International Writers’ Retreat (Lasswade, Scotland)
2013 Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture (Kefalonia, Greece)
2013 International Writers and Translators House (Ventspils, Latvia)
2012 Summer Literary Seminars (Vilnius, Lithuania)