Yuri Andrukhovych

Yuri Andrukhovych (Юрій Андрухович, born March 13, 1960 in Stanislav, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian prose writer, poet, essayist, and translator. With Oleksandr Irvanets and Viktor Neborak, he co-founded the Bu-Ba-Bu poetic group in 1985 (the group's name stands for бурлеск, балаган, буфонада--'burlesque, side-show, buffoonery').

Personal life

Yuri Andrukhovych is the father of Sofia Andrukhovych, who following in her father's footsteps also became a writer.

Literary work

To date, Andrukhovych has published five novels, four poetry collections, a cycle of short stories, and two volumes of essays, as well as literary translations from English, German, Polish, and Russian. His essays regularly appear in Zerkalo nedeli (Mirror Weekly), an influential trilingual newspaper (published fully in Russian and Ukrainian with excerpts also published in an online English edition). Some of his writings (for example, The Moscoviad and Perverzion) are carried out in a distinct postmodern style. A list of some of his major works includes:

• The Sky and Squares (Небо і площі, 1985), a book of poems
• On the Left, Where the Heart Is (Зліва, де серце, 1989), a cycle of short stories
• Downtown (Середмістя, 1989), a book of poems
• Exotic Birds and Plants (Екзотичні птахи і рослини, 1991), a book of poems
• Recreations (Рекреації, 1992), a novel
• The Moscoviad, (Московіада, 1993), a novel
• Perverzion (Перверзія, 1996), a novel
• Disorientation on Location (Дезорієнтація на місцевості, 1999), a book of essays
• My Europe (Моя Європа, 2001), a book of essays co-authored with the Polish writer Andrzej Stasiuk
• Twelve Rings (Дванадцять обручів, 2003), a novel
• Songs for the Dead Rooster (Пісні для мертвого півня, 2004), a book of poems
• The Day Lady Died (День смерті Пані День, 2006), an anthology of Ukrainian translations of American poetry from the 1950s and 1960s
• The Devil's Hiding in the Cheese (Диявол ховається в сирі, 2006), a book of essays
• The Secret. Instead of a Novel (Таємниця. Замість роману, 2007), a novel (made up of interviews)

For his literary writings and activity as a public intellectual, Andrukhovych has been awarded numerous national and international prizes, including the Herder Prize (2001), the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize (2005), the Leipzig Book Fair Prize for European Understanding (2006), and the Angelus Prize (also 2006). He is a member of the editorial board of Ukrainian periodicals Krytyka and Potyah 76.

Political views

Andrukhovych writes in Ukrainian and is known for his pro-Ukrainian and pro-European views, however he is rarely considered a Ukrainian nationalist, a charge he fiercely denies himself. In his interviews, he said that he respected both the Ukrainian and Russian languages and claims that his opponents do not understand that the very survival of the Ukrainian language is threatened. During the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine he signed, together with eleven other writers, an open letter in which he called Sovietic Russian culture: "language of pop music and criminal slang". He translates his essays himself from Ukrainian into Russian for the Zerkalo Nedeli which publishes every issue in both languages.

External links

• Virtual card
• "Andrukhovych, but not fully", and article in Zerkalo Nedeli (Mirror Weekly), available online in Ukrainian and in Russian.
• Biography from the international literature festival berlin
• Complete essays in Zerkalo nedeli by Yuri Andrukhovych: in Ukrainian (since 2000) and in Russian (since 1995)
• Selected poetry by Andrukhovych in Ukrainian: [1]
• Biography page for Andrukhovych at the website of his German publisher, Suhrkamp: [2]
• The information page on Andrukhovych at the website of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, which published the English translation of his first novel, Recreations: [3]
• Page for Andrukhovych at Poetry International Web: [4]
• Andrukhovych's acceptance speech for the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding: [5]
• Non official fan-club: [6]
• Audio recordings of Andrukhovych reading his poems, translations in several languages available [7]
• An Open Letter from Twelve Apolitical Writers about Choice and the Elections: [8]
• Author's reading of selected poetry and prose extracts, and interview in Ukrainian and English at the Kennan Institute, USA, 2009: [9]