Must reads
The 10th “Book of the Year” awards ceremony takes place in Kyiv
“Read books that have become an event!” is an unchangeable motto of the Nationwide Book of the Year Rating. Over 20,000 Ukrainian books have been reviewed in its framework within the 10 years of its existence. Not surprisingly, the organizers believe that their rating reflects Ukraine’s literary and book criticism of the latest decade. As Oleksandr Afonin, the head of the Ukrainian Association of Publishers and Book Distributors, admitted, everything connected with books in Ukraine comes close to a heroic deed.
Regarding the publications of 2008, 87 Ukrainian experts familiarized themselves with over 2,000 books to select the best ones, and the awards ceremony was held on March 6 at the Drahomanov National Pedagogic University. The experts included academician Mykola Zhulynsky, NaUKMA professor Volodymyr Panchenko, poet Ivan Andrusiak, deputy head of the Institute of Ukrainian History Stanislav Kulchytsky, writer Serhii Hrabar, and Halyna Kovalchuk, the head of the Ancient and Rare Publications Department at the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. Several dozen Ukrainian publishing houses also took part in the rating.
“In general, books produced by 64 publishing houses from nine Ukrainian cities were included in the final lists (42 Kyiv-based publishers, 11 from Lviv, three from Kharkiv, two from Vinnytsia and Odesa each, and one from Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Ternopil, and Opishnia each). Among them were mostly books published by the Fakt, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Hrani-T, Krytyka, and Piramida publishing houses,” explained Kostiantyn Rodyk, one of the chief organizers.
Ten years ago he and Halyna Rodina decided to make the first list of new and hot Ukrainian books with the assistance of Anatolii Tolstoukhov. The organizers of competition admit that its results have affected positively the main state award in the sphere of humanities: the Shevchenko Prize. For example, this prize went to Yevhen Pashkovsky, Maria Matios, Ihor Rymaruk, Vasyl Herasymiuk, Taras Fediuk, Hryhorii Huseinov, and others after they became winners of the rating.
“I want to express my joy over the fact that this rating exists. It is a good encouragement for people to read books and grow spiritually. I very much honor the work of Kostiantyn Rodyk and Halyna Rodina, because in order to pursue this business in our circumstances, one must have some peculiar sort of energy and skill to lasso a colossal number of experts who read books and express their opinions. It is pleasant that this festival takes place at the Drahomanov University, because who should read, if not teachers and youth?
“Young people are the sensitive barometer indicating what is interesting today, what captivates young people, what books one is eager to have, and what one wants to hear from our writers as well as scholars.
“The rating ‘The Book of the Year’ always reflects the various spheres of our spiritual and cultural life. Therefore I wish success and many readers to the Ukrainian book publishing industry — this will indicate that the spiritual vigor, without which no society can exist, is increasing,” said academician Mykola Zhulynsky, the head of the Institute of Literature at Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences.
The rating included the following categories: “Reading Book,” “Belles-Lettres,” “The Past,” “Wisdom,” “Horizons,” “Children’s Holiday,” “Presentation,” and “The Best Book Series” (besides those, there were also 21 sub-categories).
The grand prize and the unofficial status of a must read went to George Yurii Shevelov’s book Vybrani pratsi. U dvokh knyhakh (Selected Works. In 2 vols) published by the Kyiv Mohyla Academy Publishing House.
The prize in the “Best Book Series” category went to the publication Pryvatna kolektsia (Private Collection) by the Lviv Piramida Publishing House, while Tetiana Kara-Vasylieva and her Istoria ukrainskoi vyshyvanky (History of Ukrainian Embroidered Shirts and Blouses, Mystetstvo Publishing House, Kyiv) won in the category “Presentation.” The “Reading Book” prize went to the collection of Japanese poetry Po odnomy virshu sta poetiv (1235) (A Poem from a Hundred Poets Each, Hrani-T Publishing House, Kyiv).
The greatest number of books were nominated for the “Belles-Lettres” award. Clearly, this category aroused the greatest interest among the connoisseurs of contemporary Ukrainian literature, because all the books in this category are interesting. They included Mykhailo Brynykh’s novel Shakhmaty dlia dybiliv (Chess for Morons), Moskalytsia by Maria Matios, Oleksandr Zhovna’s collection of stories Yii tilo pakhlo zelenymy yablukamy (Her Body Smelled Like Green Apples), Leonid Kononovych’s novel Povernennia (Return), Taras Antypovych’s Tilo i dolia (Body and Fate), and many others. The experts picked the book by Mykhailo Brynykh as the winner and highly recommended it for reading.
The award in the category “The Past” went to the book Ukraina: khronolohia rozvytku. T. 3. Vid Batyievoi navaly do Liublinskoi unii (Ukraine: Chronology of Development. Vol.3. From Batu Khan’s Invasion to the Union of Lublin, Krion Publishing House, Kyiv), the prize in the nomination “Wisdom” went to the book by Edward Said Culture and Imperialism (Krytyka Publishing House, Kyiv) and the book Pid syhnaturoiu Sofii (Signed by Sofia, Kyiv Mohyla Academy Publishing House, Kyiv) penned by Prof. Serhii Krymsky, an old friend of The Day and our regular contributor.
The prize in the category “Children’s Holiday” went to the book Hoplia i Piplia by Yurii Vynnychuk (Piramida Publishing House, Lviv). According to the expert, poet and translator Ivan Andrusiak, it is a very positive sign that many Ukrainian authors, rather Ukrainian translations of foreign books, were nominated for this prize.
