viii 292
viii
Editor’s Welcome
Here is some more detail about each of these authors and
works:
1
We’re pleased to begin our Ukrainian focus with a
long excerpt from
Voroshilovgrad
, which has earned
high praise as the winner of BBC Ukraine’s Book of
the Decade award. Countercultural poet, prose writer,
and essayist
Serhiy Zhadan
(Сергій Жадан, born in
Starobilsk, Luhansk Oblast, 1974) is the most prolific
author from Eastern Ukraine today and is best-known
for his novel,
Depeche Mode
as well as collections of
short stories such as
Big Mac
(2003, 2011, 2015) and
Mesopotamia
(2015). In
Voroshilovgrad,
linear plot plays
a secondary role, presenting a picture of dysfunctional
post-Soviet space in an industrial wasteland of Eastern
Ukraine, populated by criminal elements and on-the-
make operators. This novel in English translation is
forthcoming in April, 2016 from Deep Vellum Publishing.
i