Ulas Samchuk competition launched

Ostroh Academy is hosting the all-Ukrainian competition “Struggle for National Independence in Ulas Samchuk’s Works,” devoted to the writer’s 105th birth anniversary. The competition was initiated by Oksana and Yaroslav Sokolyk, the sole administrators of Samchuk’s literary estate in Canada, and supported by Den’/The Day.

The Day has written about the editions produced by the Ostroh Academy Publishing House to which the Sokolyks granted exclusive rights to reprint Samchuk’s works in Ukraine. In order to mark the author’s birth centennial, his trilogy Volyn was published by Ostroh Academy. It is very popular among high-quality literature lovers. Also published were Samchuk’s recollections and impressions in two volumes that cover the World War II period entitled Astride a White Horse and Astride a Black Horse. Recently the collection comprising Maria, Paradise Found, and What Fire Cannot Heal came out in which the author tells about his native village of Derman in the Rivne region.

Ihor Pasichnyk, rector of Ostroh Academy, is convinced that we have a right to call Samchuk ‘20th-century Homer,’ but so far not all Ukrainians properly appreciated his contribution to the development of the national idea and culture. That is why holding an annual nationwide competition devoted to Samchuk’s works in Ostroh Academy is one way to honor the memory of the writer. The competition has been held among the students and postgraduates of the Ukrainian universities for five successive years. Intellectual youth is researching the works of the writer, who was a prominent political figure and Ukrainian chronicler, the depiction of the Holodomor tragedy in his writings, and so on.

This year’s competition is devoted to the struggle for Ukraine’s independence, one of the easily traceable topics Samchuk’s oeuvre. Students at Ukrainian universities are invited to participate on a voluntary basis. The competition will continue until Feb. 20, 2010, with nominations for the best scientific research, the best publication in the central press, the best publication in regional mass media, and the best Internet website. The winners will be determined on February 21—25. To participate, please send an application form and your work or publication to organization committee (2, Seminarska Str., Organization Committee of the Competition, National University “Ostroh Academy,” Ostroh, Rivne Oblast, 35800). Tel.: (03654) 2-33-42.