The French magazine Lire noted the anthology of Ukrainian poetry

Anthology of Ukrainian poetry “Ukraine. 24 poètes pour un pays” (“Ukraine. 24 poets for one country”) was included in the list of the most important books of the year by Lire magazine. Ella Yevtushenko, the editor and translator of the book, announced this on her Facebook page.

This summer, the French publishing house Editions Bruno Doucey presented the anthology. “Ukraine. 24 poètes pour un pays”, which included poems by both classics (Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, Mykhailo Semenko) and modern poets (Yuri Andrukhovych,  Olena Herasymyuk, Bohdan-Oleh Horobchuk, Serhiy Zhadan, etc.). Each work in the collection is presented in French and duplicated in the original language.

“The publisher and I expected that the book would generate interest at least because of the war, and it really did, but now, three months after its release, we see that it’s not just about that. – Ella Yevtushenko shared with Chytomo in an exclusive comment. – From the beginning, we wanted the anthology to represent Ukrainian poetry in general and to be, first of all, a good collection of poetry, and not a chronicle of the war.”

Recently, the famous French literary magazine Lire released an issue with a list of the 100 best publications of the current year. And the anthology “Ukraine. 24 poètes pour un pays” appeared in the “poetry” section.

Ella Yevtushenko also noted that “the reviews acknowledge the high level of our poets, and the fact that the anthology was included in the 100 most important publications of the year according to Lire magazine only emphasized its value.”

According to the editor and translator of the book, almost the entire first edition of the anthology (2,500 copies) was sold among readers and distributed by bookstores, so the publisher reprinted the edition.

“We hope that our anthology will not only introduce the French to Ukrainian poetry, but will also give impetus to other publications, serving as a kind of “sampler”,” – hopes Ella.

The monthly French magazine Lire was founded in 1975. It publishes reviews of all types of literature: prose, poetry, graphic novels, essays, non-fiction, etc. For 47 years, the media has been publishing lists of the best books in December.

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