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

Marjana Savka

Marjana Savka was born in Kopychyntsi, Ternopil oblast, in 1973. She published her first poetry collection, Naked Riverbeds, at the age of twenty-one. Eight other award-winning books, for which she received several awards, have appeared since then, including four poetry collections and three children’s books. A singer, actress, activist, and leader of the band The Three Mariannas, she edited We and She, an anthology of poems by female writers from Lviv, Ukraine, where she lives. She is cofounder of the Old Lion Publishing House which also operates a number of bookstores throughout the country. Marjana is the winner of “Torch” award (1998) and the International Vasyl Stus Prize (2003).

Askold Melnyczuk’s book of stories, The Man Who Would Not Bow, appeared in 2021. He has published four novels which have variously been named a New York Times Notable, an LA Times Best Books of the Year, and an Editor’s Choice by the American Library Association’s Booklist. He is also co-editor of From Three Worlds, an anthology of Ukrainian Writers. As founding editor of AGNI he received PEN’s Magid Award for creating “one of America’s, and the world’s, leading literary journals.” Founding editor of Arrowsmith Press, he teaches at the University of Massachusetts Boston.