CONWAY, Ark. (February 28,
2022) – While media provides overwhelming coverage of the current crisis in
Ukraine, literature, poetry, and art are just as important for processing,
coping, and surviving trauma, says Dr. Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach, Hendrix-Murphy
Visiting Professor of Poetry at Hendrix College. To that end, she is a co-host
of Voices for Ukraine, a live transatlantic poetry reading set for 11:30 a.m.
Central time on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
“Within the last 24 hours,
Olga Livshin and I, with the help and support of other poets, translators, and
scholars, have organized an event that will bring Ukrainian poets and their
translators alongside US poet-allies,” said Kolchinsky Dasbach, who is Ukrainian
born. “Voices for Ukraine is a transatlantic, virtual, live reading spanning
from Kyiv, Odesa, and Lviv, to LA, Atlanta, Philly, Little Rock, and beyond,
which may include recordings Ukrainian poets have sent in the event they are
unable to join us live due to internet outages and air raids.”
Registration is required for
the Zoom gathering: https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwkdemvqT4oG9ehw8PpmPKcN__xWzKU0TaP
There is a suggested $5
donation to support the reading series, which can be paid via Venmo @
Julia-Dasbach or PayPal: jkolch@gmail.com. Contributions
are always welcome but never required, and 90% of all the funds collected through
this reading will go toward getting humanitarian aid to the children in
Ukraine. For a more extensive list of reputable
organizations assisting in this crisis, see the list at this link.
Readers include:
Ilya Kaminsky
Katie Farris
Carolyn Forché
Boris Dralyuk
Boris Khersonsky *
Lyudmyla Khersonska *
Iya Kiva *
Lyuba Yakimchuk*
Oksana Lutsyshyna
Oksana Maksymchuk *
Dzvinia Orlowsky
Vitaly Chernetsky
Yuliya Chernyshova *
Danyil Zadorozhnyi *
Ostap Slyvynsky *
Tatiana Filimonova
Katherine E Young
Olena Jennings
Amelia Mukamel Glaser
Iryna Shuvalova
Yuliya Ilchuk
Hilah Kohen
Joy David
Victoria Juharyan
*indicates poets speaking
from Ukraine
“We need their voices and
they need our support and collective action—our solidarity,” Kolchinsky Dasbach
said. “Their words about war are not new, but have been echoing since 2014 and
earlier.”