Posestry Ukrainian-Polish literature portal created in Krakow

The Posestry Ukrainian-Polish literature portal has been established in Kraków with support from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, the project’s editors told Chytomo in an exclusive interview.    

«This is a non-commercial Ukrainian-language project designed to acquaint a wide range of readers with the best works of Ukrainian and Polish literature. Our internet portal is filled with original poetry and prose, translations, essays, research and literary criticism that is available for free to all who seek to listen to what the Word says to them», — reads the description of the portal. 

The portal was created at the Literature Institute in Kraków, which was founded in 2019 and is funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland.

The editions are edited by Ukrainians who are currently in Kraków: writer, editor and translators Olesia Mamchych; poet, publisher and musician Yuriy Zavadsky; poet and translator Tetiana Pavlinchuk; poet, translator and literary critic Natalia Belchenko. 

«The Posestry portal, the first issue of which came out on March 24, is an initiative of the Polish Literature Institute. The online magazine will be published weekly in Ukrainian, will contain prose, poetry and essays by contemporary Ukrainian authors, as well as translations of Polish literature into Ukrainian. A library of Polish classics in Ukrainian translation is planned as a separate section (thousands of students will come to Polish schools and first search for texts of Polish classics in their native language)», — Olesia Mamchych told Chytomo.

She also added that the purpose of the portal is to support Ukrainian writers in difficult times, as well as to show the interactions, echoes and connections between Polish and Ukrainian literature.

«Ukrainians understand that they have spent too much time and energy getting to know the culture of the ‘russian world’ and they know little about our closest neighbors, with whom we are really close – in terms of challenges and mentality. I hope Posestry will help fill these gaps», — Mamchych said.

Posestry has poetry by writers from Ukraine (Oleksandr Irvanets, Olena Stepanenko, Yuriy Zavadsky, Dmytro Lazutkin, Olesia Mamchych, Natalia Belchenko, and others) and Poland (Jozef Czechowicz, Tadeusz Rosewicz, Bronislawa Ostrowska, Zuzanna Ginczanka, Leszek Szaruga, and others). They will publish contemporary and classical works, poetry and reports. 

Writers can submit their works to posestry@instytutliteratury.eu

The Book Institute of Poland has expressed solidary with Ukrainian citizens. 

The Polish writers union Unia Literacka is working on creating scholarships for Ukrainians.