A Letter from Founder Will Evans: Supporting the Voices of Ukrainian Writers
Dearest Friends,
To write this letter makes me so emotional it feels impossible. I have spent my entire life studying Russian and Ukrainian literature and culture, and even with all of the historical precedent leading up to this moment, I truly cannot believe that we are here.
What can we do? What efforts of resistance can we enact? What can we put out into the world to make change? To end the war? I started Deep Vellum with the mission to bring the world into conversation through literature, with the maybe naïve belief that reading and writing are revolutionary acts that can and should change the world. Today, it’s more important than ever to listen to the voices of Ukraine — a country, a language, a culture that deserves to be more widely known, packed with writers of astounding ability and creativity, some of whom we are so lucky and so proud to publish.
Despite the horrors happening across Ukraine, reading is still a revolutionary act.
Glory to Ukraine, and may the citizens and writers of Ukraine stay safe so that tomorrow we can be together again in a world of understanding and compassion.
Will Evans
Founder & Director, Deep Vellum Bookstore and Publishing
Supporting the Voices of Ukrainian Writers
Andrey Kurkov
Born near Leningrad in 1961, Andrey Kurkov was a journalist, prison warder, cameraman and playwright before he became well known as a novelist.
He received “hundreds of rejections” and was a pioneer of self-publishing, selling more than 75,000 copies of his books in a single year. His novel Death and the Penguin, his first in English translation, became an international bestseller, translated into more than thirty languages.
As well as writing fiction for adults and children, he has become known as a commentator and journalist on Ukraine for the international media. His work of reportage, Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev, was published in 2014, followed by the novel The Bickford Fuse (MacLehose Press, 2016). He lives in Kyiv with his British wife and their three children, and remains there at the moment despite Russian attacks on the area.
Books Published by Deep Vellum
Little Starhorodivka, a village of three streets, lies in Ukraine's Grey Zone, the no-man's-land between loyalist and separatist forces. Thanks to the lukewarm war of sporadic violence and constant propaganda that has been dragging on for years, only two residents remain: retired safety inspector turned beekeeper Sergey Sergeyich and Pashka, a rival from his school days.
With little food and no electricity, under constant threat of bombardment, Sergeyich's one remaining pleasure is his bees. As spring approaches, he knows he must take them far from the Grey Zone so they can collect their pollen in peace. This simple mission on their behalf introduces him to combatants and civilians on both sides of the battle lines: loyalists, separatists, Russian occupiers and Crimean Tatars.
Wherever he goes, Sergeyich's childlike simplicity and strong moral compass disarm everyone he meets. But could these qualities be manipulated to serve an unworthy cause, spelling disaster for him, his bees and his country?
Publishing March 29, 2022 (on shelves now)
Andrey Kurkov was profiled in the Sunday New York Times. Read his article here:
Oleg Sentsov
Oleg Sentsov is a Ukranian filmmaker and writer from Crimea.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2015 on spurious terrorism charges after he was kidnapped in his house and put through a grossly unfair trial by a Russian military court, marred by allegations of torture. Sentsov’s charges seemingly stem from his opposition to Russia’s invasion and occupation of eastern Ukraine, where he lived in the Crimea.
Sentsov’s final words at his trial, “Why bring up a new generation of slaves?” have become a rallying cry for his cause. He spent 145 days on hunger strike in 2018 to urge the Russian authorities to release all Ukrainians unfairly imprisoned in Russia, an act of profound courage that contributed to the European Parliament’s awarding him the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
In 2017, Sentsov was given the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. He was released from prison days before Life Went on Anyway was set to print in 2019.
Books Published by Deep Vellum
“Through his courage and determination, by putting his life in danger, the filmmaker Oleg Sentsov has become a symbol of the struggle for the release of political prisoners held in Russia and around the world.” —Antonio Tajani, European Parliament President
The stories in Ukrainian film director, writer and dissident Oleg Sentsov’s debut collection are as much acts of dissent as they are acts of creative expression. These autobiographical stories display a Tarkovsky-esque mix of nostalgia and philosophical insight, written in a simple yet profound style looking back on a life’s path that led Sentsov to become an internationally renowned dissident artist.
Many of the stories included here were read during international campaigns by PEN International, the European Film Academy and Amnesty International, among others, to support the case for Sentsov across the world.
Published October 15, 2019
Serhiy Zhadan
Serhiy Zhadan is one of the key voices in contemporary Ukrainian literature: his poetry and novels have enjoyed popularity both at home and abroad.
He has twice won BBC Ukraine’s Book of the Year (2006 and 2010) and has twice been nominated as Russian GQ’s “Man of the Year” in their writers category. Writing is just one of his many interests, which also include singing in a band, translating poetry and organizing literary festivals.
Zhadan was born in Starobilsk, Luhansk Oblast. He graduated from Kharkiv University in 1996, then spent three years as a graduate student of philology. He taught Ukrainian and world literature from 2000 to 2004, and thereafter retired from teaching. Zhadan has translated poetry from German, English, Belarusian, and Russian, from poets such as Paul Celan and Charles Bukowski. His own works have been translated into German, English, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Russian, Hungarian, Armenian, Swedish and Czech.
In 2013, he participated in Euromaidan demonstrations in Kharkiv, and in 2014, he was assaulted outside the administration building in Kharkiv, an incident discussed in The New Yorker. He lives and works in Kharkiv, where he has remained despite Russian bombings.
Books Published by Deep Vellum
"Trainspotting set against a grim post-Soviet backdrop." — Newsweek
A city-dwelling executive heads home to take over his brother's gas station after his mysterious disappearance, but all he finds at home are mysteries and ghosts. The bleak industrial landscape of now-war-torn eastern Ukraine sets the stage for Voroshilovgrad, the Soviet-era name of the Ukranian city of Luhansk, mixing magical realism and exhilarating road novel in poetic, powerful and expressive prose.
Published May 24, 2016