Libretto by Serhiy Zhadan about Vasyl Vyshyvany raising funds for Khartiia

In August, Bilka publishing house is set to publish a bilingual edition of an opera libretto by Serhiy Zhadan, “Vyshyvany: King of Ukraine.” The Ukrainian-German text recounts the story of Vasyl Vyshyvany, also known as Archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg of Austria.

The libretto is part of an interdisciplinary project combining opera, book, historical reconstruction, and cultural diplomacy. All funds from the sale of the edition will be directed to support the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine Khartiia (Charter), which has been defending the Kharkiv Oblast since 2022.

This text has already been staged. Alla Zahaykevych’s opera based on Zhadan’s libretto had a premiere in Kharkiv in October 2021. The text will now be published in both Ukrainian and German in a single volume. The German translation was carried out by Claudia Dathe, who has been working with Zhadan’s works for the past two decades.

The design of the publication uses graphics and the Wilhelm font, created for this project by calligrapher Oleksiy Chekal. The designer combines the style of the Vienna Secession and the Ukrainian avant-garde. The foreword to the publication was written by Karl von Habsburg, grandson of the last emperor of Austria-Hungary.

The idea to create a bilingual book emerged from conversations between opera producer Oleksandra Saienko and publisher Iryna Bilotserkovska. The goal was to introduce Zhadan’s text to the German-speaking audience and make it accessible to a broader audience — that is, readers outside Ukraine, foreign cultural institutions, and the diaspora.

“The Bilka publishing house releases books by military, volunteers, and contemporary Ukrainian authors, all those who are talented at talking about the most important events that take place in our country. We believe that in wartime books are also a weapon. When these books are written by Zhadan, they are a very accurate and powerful weapon,” Bilotserkovska said.

Vsevolod Kozhemiako, the founder of the Khartiia battalion, initiated the creation of the opera about Vyshyvany. Kozhemiako approached Zhadan with the idea for the libretto. It was Zhadan who came up with the name for the newly formed brigade, where he is now responsible for communications.

The release of the book marks the 130th anniversary of Vyshyvany’s birth.

As reported earlier, the German translation of Zhadan’s libretto “Vyshyvany: King of Ukraine” was published by UStream Verlag in 2024.

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Images provided by the representatives of the publishing house

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn