The Cardiogram of Translation: PEN Ukraine’s special program at the Book Arsenal

Events within the PEN Ukraine’s special program Cardiogram of Translation will take place at the 13^th International Book Arsenal Festival that is going to take place on May 29 – June 1.

The International Booka Arsenal Festival has announced this year’s program. The list of events includes PEN Ukraine’s special program. Seven events united by the concept of the Cardiogram of Translation will relate to the issue of words capable of testifying about the wartime experience which can often get us into a waiting area. We live in hope that the souls of our diaries and photo reports would resonate with other people’s hearts, but can we really be so sure that the cardiogram of translation would work?

Event schedule within the special program of PEN Ukraine:

Thursday, May 29, 6:30 pm
Literature as a means of cultural diplomacy: a conversation with laureates of the Drahomán Prize

Our being in the world has never depended so on the way other people would percept us and our texts. What is the meaning today of being an ambassador of a country with ancient history and strong European cultural tradition which, however, isn’t so obviously ripe? Is translating Ukrainian literature in times of its reconsidering around the globe a mission or just a job to do? Which type of attention does it require? How do books we translate contribute to changes in ourselves? Are literature and translation capable of changing global historical processes?

Participants: Claudia Dathe, Iryna Dmytrychyn, Katarzyna Kotyńska, Volodymyr Sheiko, Oleksandra Koval

Moderator: Anna Vovchenko

Location: Author Stage

Friday, May 30, 12:30 pm
Presentation of the book Free Voices of Crimea. Stories of Crimean hostages of the Kremlin

The book Free Voices of Crimea is a collection of 16 features of politically imprisoned journalists who fought for human rights and freedom of speech on the occupied peninsula. This book’s protagonists are mostly Crimean Tatars: for this reason, their stories are accompanied by historical evidence that explains the reasons and origins of the constant resistance of the indigenous people of Crimea against Soviet and then Russian tyranny. The book also contains a documental part including selected letters, extracts from diaries and court speeches of the politically imprisoned journalists.

Participants: Nariman Celal, Rustem Khalilov, Tetyana Teren, Nari Usenko, Kateryna Yesypenko

Moderator: Olesya Yaremchuk

Location: Literary Stage

Friday, May 30, 7:00 pm
Support in action: how Norway helps Ukrainian culture

How do foreign artists support Ukraine? What urges them to express solidarity and help Ukrainian culture in wartime? Why can’t they stand aside when it comes to Russian aggression against Ukrainian identity? Norwegian writers and journalists will provide details about the 3-year fellowship program for Ukrainian authors who document their experience of the war and talk about the relevance of Ukrainian voices in Scandinavian countries.

Participants: Arve Hansen (Norwegian Helsinki Committee), Bernhard L. Mohr (The Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association), Aage Borchgrevink (Norwegian Helsinki Committee), Petro Yatsenko, Kateryna Mikhalitsyna.

Moderator: Tetyana Teren

Location: Main Stage

Friday, May 30, 6:00 pm
Lost in Translation: letters of love and war 

The language of love in wartime can be blurred by the translation of daily visitations. The words of gratitude and appreciation can be lost in separation and fatigue.

What serves as a catalyst for love in wartime? Where does dearness and affection, even in trenches under artillery fire, emerge from?

This is a literary and music performance about the light of support that prevents us from turning savage.

And about love that ‘requires us on a daily basis’.

Participants: Marichka Paplauskaite, Vira Kuryko-Agiienko, Myroslava Barchuk, Svitlana Roiz, Artem Chapeye, Dmytro Krapyvenko

Location: Outdoor Stage

Saturday, May 31, 1:30 pm
A Free Man in Captivity: presentation of the book in memoriam of Ihor Kozlovskyi 

This is our way to commemorate Ihor Kozlovskyi, philosopher, religious scholar, poet, civic activist who remained a free man even in Russian captivity. Ihor Kozlovskyi passed away over a year ago, but for hundreds of his students, their dialogue is still going on. Book Arsenal is to host the first presentation of a book monologue including Kozlovskyi’s interviews and lectures from different years. This book is a dedication, a tribute to love and gratitude to a person of a great heart and profound wisdom.

Participants: Anna Gruver, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Kostiantyn Sigov

Moderator: Tetyana Teren

Location: Author Stage

Sunday, June 1, 1:00 pm
Direct connection: what is important to know about the culture of Lithuania

Ukraine and Lithuania share common history and a common enemy for many decades. They also fight a common fight for their agency and independence in the field of global politics, support each other in times of the most difficult visitations, and want to get mutually acquainted without any imperial intermediaries. But what do we Ukrainians really know about the culture of Lithuania? What should we know to make the ties between our countries even stronger? Laurinas Katkus, writer, translator, cultural manager, volunteer who has often visited Ukraine, and Tomas Ivanauskas, cultural affairs officer of Lithuania in Ukraine, will talk about these issues during the event.

Participants: Laurinas Katkus, Tomas Ivanauskas

Moderator: Kateryna Mikhalitsyna

Location: Main Stage

Sunday, June 1, 4:00 pm
Women looking at war: presentation of Victoria Amelina’s documentary book

This book could be called a collection of reportages about Ukrainian women who document Russian war crimes. It is also a diary, a collection of stories of those who had witnessed and survived the worst terrors of Russian aggression and occupation. At the same time, this book powerfully argues for the fact that Russian war against Ukraine has begun much earlier that 2014 and that’s of the utmost importance to remember about Russian terror against Ukrainians in 1930s and 1960s. this event will gather the protagonists of Victoria Amelina’s unfinished book to share love and memory, to testify and to continue the fight for justice.

Participants: Viktoriia Babii, Larysa denysenko, Ievheniia Zakrevska, Iryna Dovhan, Yuliia Kakulia-Danyliuk, Vira Kuryko-Agiienko, Iryna Novitska, Tetyana Pylypchuk, Svitlana Povaliaieva, Ievheniia Podobna, Kateryna Rashevska, Olena Stiazhkina, Tetyana Teren

Location: Main Stage

The concept of PEN Ukraine’s special program The Cardiogram of Translation:

Can our language become a home for other people’s thoughts? Can it become a heart for other people’s thoughts and actions? Can we hope that by once again explaining russia’s war against Ukraine to foreigners, we will trigger the arrhythmia of sincere empathy in them?

The search for new words, which can bear witness to the experience of living through the war, often leads us into a waiting zone: there we cherish hope that the souls of our diaries and photo reports will resonate in other people’s souls. But can we be sure that the cardiogram of translation will work?

During PEN’s recent literary and volunteer trip to Chernihiv region, we visited a library in Semenivka, 10 km from the russian border. Despite frequent shelling, the local librarians remain optimistic and hold their library like a fortress. Remembering their courage, we wonder how to describe to our colleagues and friends from abroad the sound of the end of the world that almost daily rings in the librarians’ ears because of strikes of enemy drones? How to translate the heartbeat of a recruit in the dugout, or of the families whose loved ones have gone missing, or of the people who have experienced the russian occupation firsthand?

And after we voice this, we hold our breath, we listen to and feel: the rhythm of our hearts resonates. We exhale the answer: to continue bearing witness, finding and holding on to your people. To those who realize the degree of fragility and jeopardy of our common democratic future.

PEN Ukraine expresses deep gratitude to the Norwegian people—due to their powerful support and scholarship program, Ukrainian authors are able to continue their mission: to document the wounds of time and to translate our experience of war.

We pay tribute to the heroic work of translators from Ukrainian into foreign languages, to the winners of the Drahomán Prize—they open our culture and society to the world.

We talk about the mutual translation of cultures with Lithuanian authors, whose support for Ukraine is growing stronger and stronger.

We remind the world of the price of the truth and the power of human dignity with the presentation of the book Free Voices of Crimea, advocating for the cases of Crimean authors-political prisoners.

We cherish the memory of those who taught us to fight and remember justice—about Viktoriia Amelina and Ihor Kozlovskyi. Looking at Women Looking at War and The Free Man in Captivity. Now it is our turn to bear witness to them.

And we also translate love. So that not a single letter of care and gratitude is lost in translation of circumstances and daily trials.

Our heartbeat is intermittent and rapid. The recording of our experience is loud and multi-channel. But most importantly, it is not distorted.

Essay by Alisa Bondarenko and Hanna Ustynova

The Book Arsenal is an international event organized by the Mystetskyi Arsenal. The festival has been held annually since 2011, and it became one of the most impactful literary and art events in Eastern Europe. In 2019, it was recognized as the World Best Literary Festival. The mission of the festival is to create the kinds of interactions between people, communities, and institutions that could enhance the individuals’ and societies’ capacities by connecting aesthetic experiences with intellectual involvement in the book context.