The Naked Word of Mykola Horbal: Poems from the Gulag

When

Friday September 6, 2024: 5:30pm to 7:30pm  Add to Calendar /   Add to Google Calendar

Where

Downtown Library: 4th Floor Meeting Room

Description

Join us for a presentation of the newly published book translated by Myrosia Stefaniuk, Details of an Hourglass. Poems from the Gulag by Mykola Horbal. It will  include a narration by Myrosia Stefaniuk about Horbal’s life and creative process intertwined with readings of his poems and a performance of several of his songs from imprisonment by guest bandurist Mykola Deychakiwsky.

Mykola Horbal is a Ukrainian poet, musician, and human rights activist.  Repressed by the Soviet regime for his dissident writing, Horbal was imprisoned three times in the Gulag, a total of 16 years,  for “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.” Relatively unknown outside of Ukraine, his poems from imprisonment are a unique example of fortitude and creativity in captivity. His works laid foundations for the Ukrainian national renaissance and political independence and paved the way for contemporary Ukrainian literature. Horbal, aged 83, is one of the last living 60s dissidents residing in Ukraine where he continues to use the word as a forceful weapon against Russian tyranny.

Myrosia Stefaniuk is an educator, writer and translator. Her published translations include complete collections of Mykola Horbal, Vasyl Horoborodko and Mykhailo Vorobyov, plus Ukrainian poetry and prose  in numerous anthologies and literary journals. Former faculty member of Wayne State University and freelance writer for the Ukrainian Weekly, she is the author of Ukrainians of Detroit (1979) and Dibrova Diary (2019), and has written extensively about Ukrainian immigration, arts, and culture.

Mykola Deychakiwsky began his bandura studies in 1972 with Hryhory Kytasty in Cleveland, Ohio.  He played with the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus between 1974 and 1991, and again since 2017, from 2021 serving as its Concertmaster.  During the 1970s-1980s, Mykola frequently taught individuals and directed bandura camps and ensembles. In 2012, he renewed this activity at the Bobriwka and Kobzarska Sich summer bandura camps and at the Detroit School of Bandura. He has written numerous arrangements and compositions for bandura ensembles.  He holds the position of Senior Program Officer, Civil Society at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Ukrainian National Women's League of America dedicates this event to the memory of Assya Humesky, professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan for 45 years. She gifted us with her passion for languages, literature, and song and was a guiding star for many in the community.

This event is in partnership with Ukrainian National Women's League of America – Branch 50.