Living in Words – New German translations of Ukrainian literature + Books on Ukraine from German publishers

Zaporizhia, Ukraine, in the late 1920s: Stalin wants to build the Dnieper Dam, a centrepiece and prestige project of Soviet...

Zaporizhia, Ukraine, in the late 1920s: Stalin wants to build the Dnieper Dam, a centrepiece and prestige project of Soviet industrialisation. Chaim Katz is appointed as the site manager, and his wife Darya, who is nostalgic for her glamorous youth as a duchess, is made head of propaganda. Hoping to give her life meaning again, the ex-duchess plans a Christmas ball amid the ominous atmosphere of betrayal and threatened purges. Such counterrevolutionary activities cannot remain secret for long, however – and Darya Katz must pay a heavy price.

Yelena Moskovich is an accomplished layer of tracks, and her novel exerts a hypnotic pull on the reader. The author...

Yelena Moskovich is an accomplished layer of tracks, and her novel exerts a hypnotic pull on the reader. The author weaves together the personal and the political in a tragicomic story. Both the characters and the world around them undergo a radical change. In a highly emotional register, Moskovich writes about love and friendship between women who are dignifiedly mad.

In his novel, literary virtuoso Serhiy Zhadan transforms the industrial belt of the Donbas into a fantastical landscape. Here, on...

In his novel, literary virtuoso Serhiy Zhadan transforms the industrial belt of the Donbas into a fantastical landscape. Here, on the edge of Europe, the dream of freedom is dreamed in a very different way: as a search for somewhere to call home in the midst of a boundless space. Herman, a young advertising entrepreneur, receives an ominous phone call: his brother, who runs a petrol station on the edge of the steppe, has disappeared without trace. Herman goes to the petrol station, meets his brother's employees, falls in love with Olha, the idiosyncratic bookkeeper, and tries to protect the petrol station from attacks by a local oligarch. He soon realises there is much more at stake here: happiness and the meaning of life.

In haunting images, Ukrainian author Serhiy Zhadan depicts a familiar environment turning into a warzone. He writes of steadfast people...

In haunting images, Ukrainian author Serhiy Zhadan depicts a familiar environment turning into a warzone. He writes of steadfast people who counter fear and destruction with self-assertion. A young teacher wants to collect his nephew from a school which has come under fire and is no longer safe. It takes a whole day to get across the town, in which civilian life has collapsed. The journey home is just as difficult. The pair end up very close to the fighting, unable to see anything more than the milky fog filled with flashes of yellow fire. Machine guns rattle, mines explode, paramilitary groups and ownerless dogs appear in the rubble, and apathetic people stumble disorientated through an apocalyptic urban landscape.

When a deaf boy watching a puppet show is shot dead by soldiers, the residents of the occupied city of...

When a deaf boy watching a puppet show is shot dead by soldiers, the residents of the occupied city of Vasenka resist: they pretend to be deaf and coordinate their protest in sign language. Among the rebels are Alfonso and Sonya, who are expecting a baby. But when they face reprisals and cannot raise the child, it is cared for by the manager of the puppet theatre. Vasenka is a war zone, but also a place where people show solidarity to one another.

An illustrated war diary from Ukraine. In her notebook, Olga Grebennik describes her experiences and sketches them with an ordinary...

An illustrated war diary from Ukraine. In her notebook, Olga Grebennik describes her experiences and sketches them with an ordinary pencil. She captures her inner world, while the outside world is bombarded by planes. The notebook becomes her only support. A moving testimony of the invasion of Ukraine.

Ever since the war broke out, the 'Pictoric' network, based in Kyiv, has been collecting works by Ukrainian illustrators dealing...

Ever since the war broke out, the 'Pictoric' network, based in Kyiv, has been collecting works by Ukrainian illustrators dealing with the Russian army's invasion of their homeland. There are quiet, personal works, bold works featuring militant slogans, and works that are abstract and universal. The images combine the urgency of the historical situation with the clearly formulated aspiration of the initiative to get these images out into the world. The images give an unexpectedly deep insight into the horrors of the war and the mental state of Ukrainian society. But they also give hope, because where there is still art, all cannot be lost.

For Rose Ausländer, writing is a vital part of life; for her, "a word, a word constellation" are "existential questions"....

For Rose Ausländer, writing is a vital part of life; for her, "a word, a word constellation" are "existential questions". This book tells the life story of the famous German-Jewish author in the form of a graphic novel, with accessible text and plenty of illustrations.

In this picture book, Yaroslava Black sensitively depicts the experiences of a child confronted with death. Her own memories of...

In this picture book, Yaroslava Black sensitively depicts the experiences of a child confronted with death. Her own memories of her childhood in Ukraine, and the surviving customs there, form the basis of this moving but also joyful story.

The little hedgehog is back! In the autumn, he likes to sit on his hilltop in the sunshine and watch...

The little hedgehog is back! In the autumn, he likes to sit on his hilltop in the sunshine and watch the people in the village. When he gets back to his tree stump house he finds three sacks full of little apples. He thinks the apples are a present from the grey mouse, but they turn out to be the red squirrel's winter stash. It doesn't matter, though, because the wood is full of gifts for everyone.

Life is good in Rondo. The air is crystal clear, flowers are in bloom everywhere, and some people even go...

Life is good in Rondo. The air is crystal clear, flowers are in bloom everywhere, and some people even go around singing! Friends Danko, Zirka and Fabian wouldn't ever want to be anywhere else. But suddenly, something terrible happens: war comes to their little town. Dark and threatening, huge and overwhelming. It brings destruction in its wake, and nothing and nobody can stop it. Until the three friends make a wonderful discovery, and darkness gives way to light. A homage to peace, resistance and hope. And a story that helps even young children to understand inexplicable things, gives us courage, and shows that there is always something we can do – even in the face of war.

The atlas shows what is happening in Ukraine, and what is being destroyed there. It appears in German, Ukrainian and...

The atlas shows what is happening in Ukraine, and what is being destroyed there. It appears in German, Ukrainian and English. And of course in Russian.

In her revised and updated book, Kerstin S. Jobst explores the origins of the Ukrainian nation, going all the way...

In her revised and updated book, Kerstin S. Jobst explores the origins of the Ukrainian nation, going all the way back to the medieval Kyivan Rus, and outlines the most recent developments in the history of this much fought-over country.

This book explores the most important events and relationships in Ukrainian history. It counters the dominant Russocentric perspective with a...

This book explores the most important events and relationships in Ukrainian history. It counters the dominant Russocentric perspective with a Ukrainian one, but also looks critically at Ukrainian national myths. The book traces the history of the Ukrainians from the Middle Ages to the present, as well as touching on the history of Poles, Russians, Jews and Germans living in Ukraine.

For centuries, Russians and Ukrainians have described each other as brother nations – but the Russians have always seen themselves...

For centuries, Russians and Ukrainians have described each other as brother nations – but the Russians have always seen themselves as the older brother. This book tells the story of these unequal brothers as one of entanglements and disentanglements. It helps the reader gain a better understanding of the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Martin Schulze Wessel, a renowned historian of Eastern Europe, puts the invasion of Ukraine into the wider context of Russian-Ukrainian...

Martin Schulze Wessel, a renowned historian of Eastern Europe, puts the invasion of Ukraine into the wider context of Russian-Ukrainian history and shows how Russia's imperial past is still having an impact on the present.

39 authors from various academic disciplines approach Eastern Europe from different angles in these essays on historical, anthropological, literary and...

39 authors from various academic disciplines approach Eastern Europe from different angles in these essays on historical, anthropological, literary and cultural subjects. Special attention is paid to the historical spaces of Galicia and the Black Sea region, but several contributions transcend spatial classifications. They emphasise translocal perspectives, and look at colonialism and imperialism and the orientalising gaze of these processes. Other essays focus on social, national and religious issues in Central and Eastern Europe, a space that is so rich in identities and alterities. Finally, some essays examine how specific historical events are/were remembered or processed in literature.

Marc Sagnol travels around the former 'crownland' of Galicia and Lodomeria, most of which is now in western Ukraine. This...

Marc Sagnol travels around the former 'crownland' of Galicia and Lodomeria, most of which is now in western Ukraine. This personal and historical investigation leads him to the forgotten Austrian, Polish and Jewish culture of this once multi-ethnic country, and the many writers who lived and wrote there. Places come into view – Grodek, Lemberg, Bels, Drohobycz, Brody, Stryi, Bolekhiv, Chortkiv – most of which are no longer present in living memory, and texts by various authors are explored – from Sacher-Masoch and Karl Emil Franzos to Georg Trakl, Joseph Roth, Bruno Schulz, Samuel Agnon, Soma Morgenstern and Stanisław Lem, as well as less well-known writers like Jiri Langer, Debora Vogel, Artur Sandauer, Julian Stryjkowski and Andrzej Kusniewicz.

While researching this book, historian Karin Huser had access to a unique treasure trove of diaries, memoirs, photographs and hundreds...

While researching this book, historian Karin Huser had access to a unique treasure trove of diaries, memoirs, photographs and hundreds of letters, still in the family's possession. In a knowledgeable way/In expert fashion/Drawing on in-depth knowledge, she situates the unique story of an individual within the wider context of Russian history and Swiss migration to the Russian Empire. The family biography gives a powerful insight into people's everyday lives and living conditions at the time. An exciting slice of Swiss-Ukrainian migration history! 

Anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists fought for a society free from domination. Until now, little has been known about their lives and...

Anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists fought for a society free from domination. Until now, little has been known about their lives and how they operated. The contributions published in this book give us an insight into the subject. We follow the life of anarcho-syndicalist Mechel Stanger (1909-1984), who grew up near the city of Chernivtsi. In his autobiography he describes the realities of life and work when he was young, and how he became an anarchist. He guides us through the Western European anarcho-syndicalist movement, and we meet Russian and Ukrainian anarcho-syndicalist and anarchist revolutionaries. In 1937 he fought in the social revolution in Spain. David Stetner was active in the same group. He ended up moving from Bukovina to France. This book includes a short and informative autobiographical sketch.