Winners of a book competition go to children

The nationwide competition for best prose works for schoolchildren “Golden Stork-2008” will soon come to an end. And next year, according to the organizers, in particular the editor in chief of the Hrani-T Publishing House Diana Klochko, the jury of the competition will include children as well in order to hear directly from them what books they want to read.

Meanwhile. the published books of the winners of last year’s competition were introduced. These are Babusyn buket, abo Buket kvitiv vid Hannusi (Grandmother’s Bou­quet or a Flower Bouquet from Hannusia) by Larysa Darenska, Piat dariv (Five Gifts) by Tereza Prots, Mykolchyni istorii (Mykolka’s Stories) by Maryna Pavlenko, and Ruda vorona (Red Crow) by Nina Vo­skre­senska. The last two names mentioned are well-known in the contemporary Ukrainians literature, whereas Larysa Da­ren­ska and Tereza Prots are newcomers.

“I was inspired to write children’s fairy tales by the desire to experience a wonderful adventure, which never happens in reality,” opera singer Larysa Darenska said. “I dedicated my fairy tales to my granddaughter who is now an 11th-grader. When I wrote them, she did not even go to school yet. So it appears that if I had not taken part in the competition, the manuscripts would still be lying in a drawer. Now I am writing a novel: I have wanted to do this for a long time. But I dare to do this only now, after my first successful experience.”

“Cooperating closely with Faith and Light, an organization for disabled children, I wanted to write a book on life in a community and the way people are perceived by others,” says painter Tereza Prots. “Five Gifts is actually about this. The story is meant for teenagers because, in my opinion, Ukraine lacks qualitative didactic literature for this age category. A writer advised me to submit it for the Golden Stork Com­pe­tition. It has worked!”

In fact, all the initiatives of the Hrani-T Publishing House have been successful and relevant, the Golden Stork Com­pe­tition in particular. The next step is to publish the second volume of Five Gifts and Red Crow, and soon we will know the names of this year’s winners.