Unnoticed Slovak writer published in Ukraine
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Loading... - Alden Murray
- 21 Feb 2022
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Ivan Yatskanyn, a writer of Ukrainian ethnicity, has never had any of his books translated into Slovak.
With 20 books he has written over the years, Ivan Yatskanyn could have spent all his time with grandchildren or fill it with a new hobby, but he says he is nowhere near done yet.
“I don’t know what it means to have a day off. All my free time I devote to writing and literary translation, which I enjoy,” the 71-year-old Slovak author of Ukrainian ethnicity, who writes exclusively in Ukrainian, tells The Slovak Spectator. “In these difficult times, it is even nice refuge.”
Composed, he sits at his desk in his small Prešov office, dominated by books in Ukrainian lined up on shelves, several old typewriters that seem to be decorations rather than still in use, and two portraits of the great Ukrainian writers Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko above his head. He tries to remember and name all his present-day activities, some of which he took up decades ago.
Since the nineties Yatskanyn has served as the editor-in-chief of the children’s magazine “Veselka” and the literary magazine “Dukľa”, which are published in Ukrainian and financed by a fund scheme under the Culture Ministry.
After three years, the former journalist and lecturer has just translated the late Slovak writer Leopold Lahola’s collection of short stories “Posledná vec” (The Last Thing) into Ukrainian and plans to put it out. “It is an uneasy task to publish a book today. You must seek financial resources,” says the author, who has also completed work on his next children’s book. It will be published by the Timpani publishing house in Uzhhorod, Ukraine.
On top of translating and writing, Yatskanyn chairs the Society of Ukrainian Writers that brings together 23 Slovak authors publishing their works in Ukrainian. “Our age average is high. We lack younger writers,” the chair admits, saying the Society will publish seven books in Ukrainian this year.
“It’s not that bad. This year is fruitful,” he says to his own satisfaction.
Writers unknown to Slovak readers
But even if there were younger authors in the Society, most Slovaks would most likely never hear of them. Rarely have these writers been translated into Slovak, most of them in the bygone days.
Slovak-Ukrainian poet Stepan Hostyňak’s collection of Ukrainian poems was translated into Slovak and published under the name “Inventarizácia” (Inventory) by the Východoslovenské vydavateľstvo publishing house in 1987. However, in more recent years, Slovak-Ukrainian writer Július Paňko have managed to self-publish several of his books in Slovak, including “Levoška” in 2008, with the help of his wife Mária. She translated his books from Ukrainian into Slovak.
“Slovakia used to have a strategy that supported literary translations,” says Yatskanyn, adding that today’s support is not systematic. He is disappointed that money decides what books get published at present.
Yatskanyn debuted with a collection of short stories called “Trvalé bydlisko” (Home), undiscovered by Slovaks, in 1987. His works and books by other authors who write in Ukrainian are more likely to be found in libraries in eastern Slovakia, which neighbours Ukraine, rather than in other parts of the country. This is where the Ukrainian minority – Yatskanyn’s readership - lives.
“We would send our books to a library in Zvolen [central Slovakia], but who would read them in Ukrainian there?” the writer asks.
None of Yatskanyn’s books have been translated into Slovak. But the Volvox Globator publisher in the Czech Republic published “Asfaltový hoch” (The Asphalt Boy), a collection of Yatskanyn’s short stories, translated by Rita Lyons Kindlerová, in 2020. A collection in Polish came out four years earlier.
The author recalls what many have told him: “You translated books written by many Slovak authors into Ukrainian, someone should finally translate yours.” For instance, Yatskanyn translated Slovak writer Rudolf Jašík’s novel “Popolavá vrana” (The Ashen Crow) in 2021. Read More…
