A collection of essays by Ukrainian intellectuals Die Zukunft, die wir uns wünschen ("The Future We Want") was published in Germany.
The publication was prepared by PEN Ukraine in partnership with the German translators' association translit e. V and the UkraineWorld media project. The book was compiled by philosopher, translator and publicist Vakhtang Kebuladze.
The collection of essays in German will be presented for the first time at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair on October 19. The book includes texts by ten Ukrainian intellectuals, in which they reflect on the future of Ukraine and the world, dreams and fears, and the connection between the future and the past. The authors of the publication are Kateryna Botanova, Volodymyr Yermolenko, Serhiy Zhadan, Vakhtang Kebuladze, Andriy Kurkov, Taras Liutyi, Tanya Malyarchuk, Taras Prokhasko, Yuriy Prokhasko and Natalia Sniadanko.
The book Die Zukunft, die wir uns wünschen (The Future We Want) was published by ibidem-Verlag as part of the Ukrainian Voices series, which was founded by German political scientist Andreas Umland.
The anthology was compiled by philosopher, translator and publicist Vakhtang Kebuladze. The editor of the German edition is Professor of Slavic Studies Jutta Lindekugel. The cover was designed by Victoria Kuchma.
"We wrote this book about our common future in 2020. Now this year is our past. Our present was then an unknown future for us. Now it is a book about our past, present, and future at the same time," Vakhtang Kebuladze writes in the introduction to the German edition.
The work on the collection began in 2020 as part of an online residence for German translators of Ukrainian literature organised by PEN Ukraine with the support of the German translators' association translit e. V., the partner programme 'Culture for Change' of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation and the programme 'MEET UP! German-Ukrainian Youth Encounters' programme of the Foundation "Memory, Responsibility and Future" (EVZ). The project was led by Tetyana Teren and coordinated by philosopher Andriy Vakhtel and translator Claudia Dathe.
The participants of the residency were the following translators selected through a competition: Anтegret Becker, Jakob Wunderwald, Ganna Gnedkova, Lucas Joura, Yuliya Komarynets, Dmytro Mokrousov, Simon Muschik, Dario Planert, and Laura Tognetti. As part of the project, they were able to attend lectures and workshops by Ukrainian and German writers and translators. In addition, accompanied by mentors, they translated essays by 10 Ukrainian writers written specifically for the project. 'The Future We Want' is the theme of the 2020 UN General Assembly, which also served as a starting point for the collection of essays.
Volodymyr Yermolenko, philosopher, president of PEN Ukraine, and editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, reflects on the amputated future of Ukrainians in his essay for the book:
Ukrainians have a complicated relationship with the future. There is a huge gap between what we imagined our future to be and what it actually became. Our history was annexed, our future was amputated: the empire forced us to live in the eternal present, without our own memory and our own hope.
On October 19, the German edition will be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The event will begin at 15:00 at the Ukrainian national stand in Hall 4.1, booth B64.
The Ukrainian version of the book, published in 2020 by Tempora Publishing House, is available for free on PEN Ukraine's website. The German edition can be ordered via this link on the website of the publishing house ibidem-Verlag.
We would like to remind you that this year's focus theme of the Frankfurt Book Fair is Reclaiming the voice. The author of the concept of the focus theme is PEN Ukraine's President Volodymyr Yermolenko. The full Ukrainian programme at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair is available here.
PEN Ukraine is a cultural and human rights NGO that unites Ukrainian authors - journalists, writers, playwrights, scholars, publishers, translators, human rights activists, cultural managers, photographers, illustrators. It is one of 146 national centres of PEN International.
translit e. V is a non-governmental association of translators and cultural workers who aim to promote cultural exchange between the German-speaking area and Eastern Europe. It has existed in Berlin since 2010.
UkraineWorld is a multilingual project about Ukraine (run by Internews Ukraine) that explains Ukraine and its culture to the world, covers the most important events in and around the country, and counteracts anti-Western propaganda and disinformation.
