How Poetry Shaped the Ukrainian Nation — with Rory Finnin

October 15, 2025
A talk on Taras Shevchenko's heritage.

Why is Taras Shevchenko not only the founding father of Ukrainian poetry but also of Ukrainian identity? What aspects of his legacy remain alive today?

  • Host: Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian literary scholar at Kyiv Mohyla Academy and journalist at Ukraine Crisis Media Centre who also runs a French-language podcast, "L'Ukraine face à la guerre".
  • Guest: Rory Finnin, Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge. He launched the Cambridge Ukrainian Studies programme in 2008.

His book "Blood of Others: Stalin's Crimean Atrocity and the Poetics of Solidarity" has received numerous awards. Find the book: utppublishing.com/doi/book/10.3138/9781487558253

Our earlier conversation about this book: ukraineworld.org/en/articles/russ...rimea-fresh-view)


This episode is produced in partnership with the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and the project Heritage Ukraine, supported by the European Union's Erasmus programme.

Special thanks to the "Ukrainian History Global Initiative" for helping organize this conversation.


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