Edinburgh and the Scottish Poetry Library celebrate Ukranian writing along with other Cities of Literature, including Milan.
by Keira Brown
Communications Executive, Edinburgh
City of Literature Trust
12 Feb 2024
On 24 February, Edinburgh, Dublin, Milan, Exeter, Krakow, Kuhmo, Iași, Melbourne, Nottingham, Reykjavík, Tukums and Wrocław will collectively mark the forced closure of Odessa Literature Museum due to the war.
On reflection of the forced closure of Ukraine's Odessa Literature Museum due to the war, Milan City of Literature have decided to support them by organising a collaborative, multi-city international event with organisations connected to UNESCO Cities for Literature, which includes Edinburgh and the Scottish Poetry Library. The idea is very simple: each cultural institution, centre or association would present a public reading of an Ukranian author. The event will take place simultaneously through the Cities of Literature network, on February 24, 2024 , and will be streamed or recorded for global access.
The Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh have chosen to celebrate Ukranian literature with a recording of Scotland’s Makar Kathleen Jamie, who curated a collective poem following a call-out to the public for submissions of lines of poetry in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Kathleen is joined in the reading by Ivan Babuscsak of the Ukrainian Community Centre in Edinburgh. The SPL commissioned two translations of the poem into Ukrainian by Ostap Slyvynsky and Nataliia Drapak. You can read the translations in Ukranian on the Lbrary's website.
The Scottish Poetry Library is the world’s first purpose-built library for poetry in the world, and you can find out more about the organisation over on their website.
