For two years since the beginning of the February invasion of Russia into Ukraine, in solidarity with our Ukrainian friends and the entire Ukrainian people, we have been publishing translations of actual Ukrainian poetry into Belarusian. During this time, poems by 40 contemporary Ukrainian authors appeared in the “TAUBIN”. Similarly, out of a sense of love and solidarity, we have started a series of translations of the Ukrainian “shot renaissance”, which we hope to continue working on.
In two years, 26 collections of translations made by six translators have been published, and this is a lot of work that we would be sorry to lose. Maybe now is not the right time to build bridges, but it seems that there will never be a convenient time for us. Every day the aggressor’s missiles fly at Ukrainian towns and villages, every day they kill innocent people, and all that we can do in memory of those who cannot be returned is not keep silence. Talk about it. We decided to say aloud, and this is the first collections of actual Ukrainian poetry in Belarusian.
It features poems by 13 authors, some of them are fighting at the front right now. Ukrainians were scattered around the world by the war, forcing them to talk about their pain so that the world would continue to help their homeland fight with evil. Belarusians should also hear this.
“About words and the silence between them” is a unique, literally handmade work by the “TAUBIN” team and the Swedish publishing house “Ariel Förlag”. The collection was published in February 2024, it is available in Warsaw (“Knihauka” bookstore), Vilnius (Belarusian Museum) and Stockholm (“Interbok” bookstore). Unfortunately, Minsk and other Belarusian cities will not be on this list.
By publishing this collection, we support our Ukrainian friends and hope that this will be another small common step towards the victory of good over evil.
