Reviewed by Liliia Shutiak
Translated from the Ukrainian by Kate Tsurkan

In Andriy Lyubka’s debut novel Carbide, the mythical Transcarpathian town of Vedmediv becomes a microcosm of Ukraine in the thirty years since its independence. The novel, first introduced to Ukrainian readers in 2015, was first met with great acclaim by readers and critics alike.

Reviewed by Liliia Shutiak
Translated from the Ukrainian by Kate Tsurkan

Our Others contains the testimonies of people from minority groups devoted to preserving their traditions, creating a special universe of multicultural diversity. Big and small Ukrainian cities alike are proud of this diversity, but at the same time, it is constantly receding further and further into the past.

Reviewed by Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler

For all the flesh this book rips apart, it does so as part of a subtler project of fragmentation. As the translator puts it in his thoughtful afterword, “Tereza Riedlbauchová’s intensely passionate poems explore the thresholds and ruptures of bodies and the borders between the physical world and the imagination.”

Reviewed by Khrystia Vengryniuk
Translated from the Ukrainian by Yulia Lyubka

Serhiy Zhadan’s The Orphanage does not teach and should not teach, and even more so, should not indicate what side to take in the war. The author, as sad as it may seem, described an ordinary Ukrainian who is marginal, detached, a stranger, the "other" in their own country.

Reviewed by Dmytro Kyyan

The fate of Goose Fritz in Russia following its publication is rather unusual. In an interview with radio 'Deutschlandfunk', Sergei Lebedev – who now lives in Germany – said that it was “as if [the novel] suddenly disappeared”.

Reviewed by Liliia Shutiak
Translated from the Ukrainian by Yulia Lyubka

Not many contemporary Ukrainian writers can boast of having dared to completely undress in front of an audience. The 58-year-old poet, novelist, book designer, musician, and actor Yuri Izdryk can.

Reviewed by Olena Jennings

Throughout the book, she advocates for gay, lesbian, and transgender people. The book itself creates a sense of community. Even the act of just stepping into the Center, which represents community, brings the voice in the poem happiness “but I was smiling at her I was beaming.”

Reviewed by Clare Needham

“No one loves you anymore,” a Serbian friend tells Tess shortly after the U.S. invades Iraq. “You” refers to all Americans, though Tess doesn’t need to be told. Neither she nor Laura harbor many illusions about their line of work or the lives they lead.

Reviewed by Sandra Joy Russell

The title itself, Minor Heresies, speaks to Murray’s disruptive, iconoclastic poetics, within which she attentively punctures deeply held beliefs while also exploring her own lived experiences as a foreigner in the U.S.

Reviewed by Kate Tsurkan

Like the author, many of the main characters in these twenty-one thought-provoking, often humorous stories are Polish women living in the United Kingdom. They are working mothers, grieving widows, emotionally unfulfilled wives.