I came to treasure literary translation as a force that draws us out of the isolated space in which, entirely by chance, we are born. Thus, translation, for me, primarily means extending beyond the confines of a single country. Growing up in newly independent Ukraine, in the wake of the restrictions imposed on the flow of people and books for 80 years, I felt the urge to be culturally and literary connected to the rest of the world. That’s why I came to translation—the contact that emerges in the delicate space between people and nations.
After pursuing my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Translation Studies, I began working with Ukrainian publishers to fill some of the lacunas that appeared in the Ukrainian literary landscape after centuries of Russia’s imperial domination. Since then, I’ve translated over 20 full-length books into Ukrainian, and given a Ukrainian voice to Kazuo Ishiguro, Madeleine Thien, Claire Keegan, and many other authors. During this time, I also worked as a military interpreter, assisting the Ukrainian army during training with their NATO counterparts.
When I began my graduate studies at Dartmouth, I noticed how little was known about the Ukrainian literary tradition in the Anglophone world, and it spurred me to begin translating contemporary Ukrainian writers into English. With Russia’s full-scale invasion, I felt a new urgency in bringing nuanced writing from Ukraine to English-language audiences because people cannot afford to shape the image of another country only by relying on headlines. Ukraine is a treasure trove of stories, and its literary scene remains vibrant—even if largely unknown to an outside audience—even in wartime. Committed to bringing Ukrainian voices to the global stage, I translated essays and short stories by Kateryna Kalytko, Iryna Tsilyk, Iryna Slavinska, and many other contemporary Ukrainian writers.
I was privileged to benefit from a wide array of training opportunities available for translators into English. I was a 2022 graduate of the BCLT Literary Translation and Creative Writing Summer School, Bristol Translates Summer School, and a 2023 mentee at the National Center for Writing’s Emerging Translator Mentorship program in the UK (mentored by Nina Murray). I was also a 2019 resident at the Banff International Literary Translation Centre in Canada, a 2023 resident at the Art Omi Translation Lab in the USA, and a 2024 ALTA (American Literary Translators Association) Travel Fellow.
I am now a faculty member at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine, where I run a literary translation workshop and teach courses on literary translation and consecutive and simultaneous interpreting.
