You're reading: Ukrainian writer Serhiy Zhadan wins US literary award

Ukrainian poet, novelist and musician Serhiy Zhadan has been selected as one of two winners of the U.S. Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry.

Publisher Arrowsmith Press, which presents the award along with Boston Playwrights’ Theater and The Walcott Festival, announced the winners on July 6.

“Thank you, it’s a big honor,” Zhadan wrote, commenting on the news on Facebook.

Since 2019, the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry is annually awarded for books in English or English translations of the works of living poets who are not U.S. citizens, writing in any language.

Zhadan was awarded for “A New Orthography,” a collection of his poems translated into English by John Hennessy and Ostap Kin and published in 2020. The book touches on the recurring theme of his work, Russia’s war in the Ukrainian Donbas.

One of the award’s jury members, U.S. poet Major Jackson called his poems “devastating and wildly charming.”

“I am astounded at the large-scale heart of this work, the courageous persistence of an autonomous voice remarking on the dailiness of life in war time with apparent whimsy and an undercutting joy,” Jackson said in the winners announcement statement.

The award is all the more meaningful to Zhadan, who said that Saint Lucian poet and playwright Walcott had a great influence on his work.

“Walcott is a really important author for me, his name inspires and lets me see the meaning in composing lines and rhyming words,” he wrote on Facebook.

The Ukrainian author was selected from 20 finalists along with another winner, Saint Lucian poetess Canisia Lubrin. The two will split the cash prize of $1,000, have readings at the Boston Playwrights’ Theater and enjoy a one-week residency at Walcott’s former home during the Walcott Festival.

Earlier this year, “A New Orthography” was nominated for prestigious PEN America Literary Awards in the “Poetry in Translation” category.