Marjana Sawka

Marjana Sawka

Marjana Orestivna Sawka ( Ukrainian Мар'яна Орестівна Савка ; scientific transliteration Mar'jana Orestivna Savka ; born February 21, 1973 in Kopytschynzi , Ternopil Oblast ) is a Ukrainian poet, children's book author, literary scholar, civic activist and editor-in-chief, Head of the “Old Lion Publishing House ” ( Видавництва Старого Лева ) in Lviv , member of the chairmanship of the Center for Research on Children's and Young People's Literature, Vice-President of the “Big Hedgehog” literary award (Великий Їжак), member of the “Association” and the “ National Association of Ukrainian Writers ”.

biography

Marjana Sawka was born as the daughter of theater director, artist and citizen activist Orest Sawka and his wife Iryna, a music teacher, in Kopychynzi, Ternopil Oblast. In her youth, following in the footsteps of her parents, she devoted herself to singing and theater. After finishing school, she studied Ukrainian philology in Lviv. During her studies she was an active member of the literary group of young women MMJUNNA TUGA (Society of Lonely Graphomaniacs), which is abbreviated with the first letters of the relatives, together with other well-known authors. After studying Ukrainian philology, Sawka finished studying at Les Kurbas Theater. She then worked for a few years as a junior researcher in the Lviv National Stefanyk Library in the department for research on periodicals and as literary editor of the Lviv newspaper Postup in the 1990s. Since 2001, Sawka has been the main editor and director of the “Verlag des Alten Löwen”, which she co-founded and which belongs to the FEST Holding and which, alongside the Kiev publishing house “A-ba-ba-ha-la-ma-ha”, is managed by Ivan Malkowytsch . is one of the two most important Ukrainian children's book and recently also general literary publishers. Due to the biographically and professionally grown network, she is one of the most influential Ukrainian carriers and promoters of culture. She has a son who was born in February 2015 with her husband Mykola Scheyko, who works with her in the publishing house management.

plant

As part of her work in the Stefanyk Library, Sawka published a study and bibliography of the Ukrainian émigré press in the Czechoslovak Republic of the 1920s and 1930s. A first volume of poetry, “Nackte Flußbette”, had already been published in 1995, and others followed. Her poems have also appeared in a number of Ukrainian literary magazines and almanacs and poetry anthologies. So far, Sawka's writing has focused on poems and children's books. Translations of the poems are available in Polish, English, Belarusian, Russian and Lithuanian. A text on the subject of Ukrainian female workers who are only in contact with their children via Skype was translated into German by Kati Brunner. - Among the activities of Sawka as an active citizen recently, as an objection to populist changes to the problematic language laws and against the alienation between eastern and western Ukraine, the support for the proclamation of a day on which Russian was spoken in Lviv (February 27, 2014) and the publication of the book by Zoja Kazan from Odessa in Russian. Through interviews, poems and short notes on her Facebook page or in her blog, she accompanies the current cultural and occasionally also the political and warlike events. In the late summer of 2017, the publisher was named the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador.

Awards

• 1998: 1st prize from the Kiev publishing house Smoloskyp.
• 2002: Winner of the 9th Forum vydavciv L'viv.
• 2003: Wassyl Stus International Journalism Prize.

Publications

• Oholmi rusla [naked river beds]. Ternopil 1995.
• Maljunky nakomi: virši [paintings on stone: verses]. Kyiv 1998.
• Hirka mandrahora [bitter mandrake]. L'viv 2002.
• Ukrains'ka emihracijna presa u Čechoslovac'kij Respubliki (20-30-ti rr. XX st.): Istoryko-bibliohrafične doslidžennja [The Ukrainian émigré press in the Czechoslovak Republic of the 20s and 30s of the 20th century: historical-bibliographical Examination]. L'viv 2002.
• [together with Mar'jana Kijanovs'ka] Kochannja i vijna [love and war]. L'viv 2002.
• Čy je v babuïna babusja ?: virši dlja maljat [Whether the baboon has a grandmother ?: Verses for little ones]. L'viv 2003.
• Lapy i chvosty [paws and tails]. L'viv 2005.
• Kvyty cmynu [caraway flowers]. L'viv 2006.
• [Poems], in: Sučasna ukraïns'ka literatura kincja XX str.-počatku XX st. Kyiv 2006, 116-122.
• Boston-džaz: viziï ta virši [Boston Jazz: Visions and Verses]. Kyiv 2008.
• Tin 'Ryby [The Fish's Shadow]. L'viv 2010.
• Kazka pro Staroho Leva [Tale of the old lion]. L'viv 2011.
• Pora plodiv i kvitiv: knyha zibranych viršiv [time for fruits and flowers. Poem selection]. L'viv 2013.
• Bosonyžki dlja stonyžky. [Sandals for millipedes]. L'viv 2015.
• Rodyna abetka [family alphabet]. L'viv 2017.
• Optyka boha [view of God]. L'viv 2019.

Translations

• Eight notes from the blue angel [translated by Askold Melnychuk], in: Arrowsmith: a portfolio of broadsides. Medford, MA 2007.
• With children's eyes [translated by Kati Brunner], in: Walentyn Berdt / Kati Brunner (eds.), Skype Mama . Berlin 2013, 139–145.

literature

Iryna Slavins'ka, Istorii talanovytnych ljudej. Knyha druha. Kiev 2015, 121–126. Bohdana Neborak, # bookseller. Mykola Šejko and Mar'jana Savka on the history of the development of the Old Lion Publishing House, online at http://starylev.com.ua/news/knygotvorci-mykola-sheyko-ta-maryana-savka-pro-istoriyu-rozvytku- vydavnyctva-starogo-leva ( Ukrainian interview of April 5, 2016).