The Ukraine Shelf podcast launched at University College London

Ukrainian author and historian Olesya Khromeychuk and Uilleam Blacker, literary translator and scholar of Ukrainian and East European culture at UCL, have launched “The Ukraine Shelf” podcast, in which they talk to leading authors, scholars, intellectuals and journalists about Ukraine and its place in world history, culture and politics.

The podcast is produced by University College London in collaboration with the Ukrainian Institute London and UCL SSEES, with the support of the British Academy.

“This podcast was born out of curiosity and frustration. Curiosity, because we both believe that books have the power to expand our understanding of Ukraine — something we need now more than ever as the country fights to defend its sovereignty. And frustration, because whenever we visit a bookshop, we see entire sections dedicated to many nations — especially those with an imperialist past — but Ukraine’s presence is still far too limited. Things have improved somewhat since 2022, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” Khromeychuk wrote.

The podcast aims to fill this gap so that Ukraine can finally take its rightful place in intellectual and cultural discussions. In 2023, Khromeychuk visited a large Parisian bookstore to see if there was a French translation of her book “La mort d’un frère” (The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister), which recounts the story of the death of her brother Volodymyr, who fought against Russia. The book was sold in the store, but it was placed in the “Russian literature” section.

“When I pointed this out to the store manager, his explanation was — let’s say — telling. Apparently, the section wasn’t about Russia as a country but as a ‘region’. According to this logic, everything that was once under Russian imperial or Soviet control still belongs on the ‘Russia’ shelf. Perhaps it should be renamed the ‘Russian imperialism’ shelf, in that case.

“Needless to say, I refused to leave until my book was moved. Eventually, it was placed on the ‘new editions’ table. I wonder where it is now … If you’re in Paris and find yourself in that bookshop, send me a photo of my book’s new home! Who knows, the manager’s view of geography might have improved since our heated exchange,” Khromeychuk added.

Khromeychuk emphasized that if we didn’t create space for Ukraine in bookstores and libraries, it would not be present on the global mental maps. “When politicians, journalists, and intellectuals place Europe’s largest country within Russia’s ‘sphere of influence’ in their minds, that has real-world consequences, as we continue to see.”

Episode 1 of “The Ukraine Shelf” is dedicated to the Crimea with Rory Finnin, Professor of Ukrainian Studies at Cambridge, a leading scholar of Ukrainian culture, and author of Blood of Others: Stalin’s Crimean Atrocity and the Poetics of Solidarity, and Elmaz Asan, Crimean Tatar journalist at ATR and visiting research fellow at Cambridge, currently working on British accounts of Russian colonisation policies in Crimea after the 1783 annexation as guests.

Listen to Episode 1 of “The Ukraine Shelf.”

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Main image: podcast website

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn