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We asked Farida to tell us a bit about the writer's life in the Ukraine

Maiden and Her Quest  Home

A writer's life in Ukraine

I’m afraid I don’t know much about it. I know for a fact that it is a very thankless and a poorly paid (if at all) affair. The literary industry is under-developed. We don’t have literary agencies or agents, which slows down the whole process considerably. There are several prominent publishing houses, but they are mostly oriented on popular foreign literature of nowadays, which is understandable but hardly encouraging. The quality of books also leaves much to be desired.

I remember reading in a newspaper about the ‘writing situation’ in Ukraine and at the time it appeared to be quite doomed, though not without a perspective for future development. The only problem (from where I’m standing ) is that no one bothers to do anything about it. The first step, in my opinion, would be to provide writers with agents who would pull and push them through.

That, however, does not stop writers in the least from pursuing their goal. They still write and still get their books published by means of their own costs that they can scrape or (if lucky) by attracting sponsors to their aid.

My grandmother, for one, was the founder of a contest that promotes young and talented poets, essay-writers, translators, artists and composers. With her help they (and I among them) had an outlet for their creativity. They didn’t have to bottle in their gift but had a chance to share it with other kids just like them who had something to say or to show. It was exciting and amazing to get on stage, to recite a poem, to win the first prize or simply to get a certificate that marked your participation from a jury member who just happened to be a very ancient but very outstanding writer or poet of Ukraine.

Of course, it was no mean fit to organize such a thing. Sponsors were sought out as well as a number of willing parents whose children were eager to take part in such a venture. Winners and participants receive prizes and certificates that serve as a strong incentive to continue, to keep going, to write, to take part, to win. Moreover, after each contest a collection of poems, translations, essays and drawings of the contestants is printed out.

At first it was a local contest that took place solely in a school where my grandmother works as a teacher of Russian language and foreign literature. Then it grew past our district until, finally, it spread beyond the boundaries of the city of Odessa.

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