Christine Turkewych for New Pathway, Shevchenko Foundation, Toronto.
The Kobzar Writers’ scholarships are awarded for diverse narratives with a Ukrainian Canadian theme. These scholarships are continually described as “an honor” when recipients deliver their thanks to the Shevchenko Foundation, the sponsors. As Canadian authors seek acknowledgement for their commitment to developing a Ukrainian Canadian themed work, the Kobzar Writers’ Scholarships validate their writing efforts and provide opportunities to hone manuscripts for publication.
Orysia Tracz from Winnipeg was the ninth scholarship recipient since 2007. Orysia recalls that she “has been writing, translating and speaking on things Ukrainian for over four decades… with a special interest in Ukrainian culture, traditions and everything folk – and their origins.”
As a seasoned writer, who published a column in the Ukrainian Weekly for decades, an American English Language newspaper, Orysia published a compilation of her articles about Ukrainian Christmas traditions in 2015 titled “First Star I see Tonight: Ukrainian Christmas Traditions”. Earlier, Mrs. Tracz had completed a historical narrative on the 50th anniversary of the Rusalka Ukrainian dance ensemble in Winnipeg.
With an undergraduate degree in political science from George Washington University in D.C., Orysia spent most of her career in Winnipeg working in the university library and raising her family, since immigrating in 1968.
As a scholarship recipient, Orysia sought feedback on her latest writing effort of “part fiction and part nonfiction” at the Humber School for Writers’ Workshop. Her narrative emerged from her family’s experiences as well as those of friends. Her goal is “to produce a well-illustrated book for young people, but at the same time, it can be for anyone remembering or practicing a Ukrainian Canadian Christmas”.
Robert Churchill Buckie, the eighth scholarship recipient “had work published in the past beginning with inclusions in the Scottish Short Stories Annual and contributed articles over the years to magazines and newspapers in the UK and North America”. He served as president of the Hamilton branch and vice president of the Canadian Authors Association in Ontario. Books have factored hugely in his life as a librarian in the public library system and as a manager of an antiquarian bookstore. As a retiree, Robert arrived at the Humber Writers’ Workshop to seek direction and editing on his novel “Under an Orange Ukrainian Sky”. “Although one of the central themes concerns so-called ‘marriages of convenience’ – a serious matter – it is treated with humor,” he commented about the novel. His goal is to write about contemporary Ukraine in a “colloquial rather than academic way” and illuminate current issues through the experiences of his major characters as they travel between Ukraine and Canada, sharing a cross cultural lifestyle.
Bob Buckie lives part of the year in central Ukraine in Marhanets – a mining city in Dnipropetrovsk (today – Dnipro). He met his wife Iryna in the Bloor West village at a Vernissage exhibit at the KUMF gallery in its old location on Bloor Street in Toronto. Parallels can be drawn between his own love story and that of his main characters.
Adrian Lysenko, Toronto born, worked as a journalist, news reporter and editor in Alaska and the North-West Territories, and is the seventh scholarship recipient.
Adrian arrived at the workshop with the goal to improve his first novel “Beyond the Rapids”. He describes his narrative as one “which follows four generations of a Cossack family during the 17th and 18th centuries, loosely based on my ancestors, the backdrop being Ukraine between the Polish Commonwealth Empire and eventually the Russian Empire”. His starting point was the genealogical discovery of a Cossack ancestor in his family after becoming a member of a Ukrainian Russian genealogical group on the web. Adrian’s favorite author is Ernest Hemingway wherein Hemingway’s characters imply a lot through dialogue. Lysenko values minimalism where “less is more”. In preparation for his narrative much research was dedicated and focused on the 17th and 18th century. Adrian was fortunate to locate original documents as well as to utilize secondary sources such as the history of Ukraine texts authored by Professors Orest Subtelny and Paul Robert Magosci. Adrian was particularly grateful to his fellow writers for their feedback and support of his manuscript. He admits that seventeen revisions were made before he submitted a complete manuscript to a publisher, six months after the workshop. Another project for Adrian is to produce a graphic novel about the Ukraine genocide Holodomor with Canadian illustrator Ivanka Galadza, recent graduate from Cornell in Montreal.
The Humber School for Writers workshop held value for each of the Kobzar scholarship recipients. All greatly appreciated the interface with publishers and the opportunity to gain useful information about that world and how writers need to approach publishers. At times, they found the week long workshop exhilarating and inspiring as they also attended panels with renowned writers and publishers during the International Festival of Authors (IFOA).
The Shevchenko Foundation offers two Kobzar Writers’ Scholarships at the Humber School for Writers’ creative writing workshop during the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront in Toronto from Sunday October 23 to Friday October 28 2016. These full tuition scholarships are awarded annually to Canadian writers whose narratives develop with a Ukrainian Canadian theme and are intended to assist the writers to complete their work for publication.
Deadline for applications: September 26, 2016.
For details, please visit Humber’s website at humber.ca/scapa/ifoa
Dr. Christine Turkewych is Director for the Kobzar Literary Award and Program at the Shevchenko Foundation.
www.kobzarliteraryaward.ca
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