Ukraine Bulletins

We dedicate this page to the people of Ukraine. In response to the Russian invasion, which is war, we are committed to publishing Ukraine Bulletins: updates, prose, and poetry from Ukrainians and those affected by the war. Many thanks to everyone who is supporting Ukraine. How could we do otherwise?

Birch Bark Editing 2/26/24 Birch Bark Editing 2/26/24

A Duet of Poems by Krystyna Danuta Bargiel and Ludmila Fico

I want to read poems you scribble on notepads after you bandage the wounded on your hospital shift.

Birch Bark Editing 8/24/23 Birch Bark Editing 8/24/23

Thorns by Dawn Tasaka Steffler

People said it was safer here, away from the cities. Less shelling. But being far away means you eventually run out of things, like gasoline and medicine.

Birch Bark Editing 5/12/23 Birch Bark Editing 5/12/23

HAVING ALREADY INVENTED THE GREEKS by Sherod Santos

will the story never stop

Birch Bark Editing 5/10/23 Birch Bark Editing 5/10/23

the story of a ficus, as told by a human who prefers to communicate with plants by Halyna Kruk

stand proud, grow, wait

Birch Bark Editing 5/8/23 Birch Bark Editing 5/8/23

[Take immortality, God, but give] by Dmitry Bliznyk

And our land is decorated with bloodied fragments

Birch Bark Editing 5/4/23 Birch Bark Editing 5/4/23

The Fourth Month of Constant Shelling by Lyudmyla Khersonska

It’s so hard to live when they’re killing you.

Birch Bark Editing 8/4/22 Birch Bark Editing 8/4/22

Writing in a Coffee Shop Far From the Bombs of War by Gail Hosking

I am far, far away from those fires across the sea, far from empty cities, the invisible hurt of the lost and dead.

Birch Bark Editing 6/20/22 Birch Bark Editing 6/20/22

For the Record: Askold Melnyczuk speaks with Ukrainian poet, publisher, bookstore owner and activist Marjana Savka

Askold Melnyczuk of Arrowsmith speaks with Marjana Savka, one of Ukraine's leading poets who also happens to be one of the country's most influential publishers.

Birch Bark Editing 5/27/22 Birch Bark Editing 5/27/22

“A Song on the End of the World” by Czeslaw Milosz, translated by Anthony Milosz, read by Danuta Hinc in English and Polish

On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.

Birch Bark Editing 4/6/22 Birch Bark Editing 4/6/22

Reading for Ukraine

Join Ukrainian and U.S. writers in person at the Shambaugh House or online for a special reading dedicated to supporting Ukraine. Co-sponsored by Prairie Lights Bookstore, the Iowa City and Lviv UNESCO Cities of Literature, and International Programs.

Participating readers include Marilynne Robinson, Bob Shacochis, Elizabeth Willis, Jane Hirshfield, Oksana Lutsyshyna Pavlo Korobchuk, Joyelle McSweeney and more.

Birch Bark Editing 3/30/22 Birch Bark Editing 3/30/22

All That We Have Is A Voice: Writers from Ukraine Speaking to Writers in Boston (video)

Victoria Amelina, Robert Pinsky, Oksana Lutsyshyna, Yulia Musakovska, James Wood, Marjana Savka, E. C. Osondu, Andrea Cohen, Shuchi Saraswat, and more. Writers from Ukraine speak to writers in Boston.

Join us March 25 at 5 p.m. Eastern for a major hybrid event in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Boston and Brookline Booksmith's Transnational Literature Series.

Birch Bark Editing 3/23/22 Birch Bark Editing 3/23/22

All That We Have Is A Voice: Writers from Ukraine Speaking to Writers in Boston

Join us March 25 at 5 p.m. Eastern for a major hybrid event in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Boston and Brookline Booksmith's Transnational Literature Series.