“I will take <I>The Day</I> Library to Vilnius”

Dear Ms. Ivshyna,

My four-year ambassadorial mission to Ukraine is drawing to a close. Over these years, I have made a point of reading almost every issue of your publication, where I could find views and commentaries that I share. I have also accustomed myself to seeing you at various concerts, exhibitions, and receptions, where I could hear your brilliant ideas.

I am leaving office and flying to Vilnius on the coming Friday. My wife Toma and two-year-old daughter Maria, who was born in Kyiv, are already at home, as are hundreds of the Ukrainian books that I have been meticulously collecting in the past four years. Among them are a lot of books on history (the Hololdomor alone is the subject of about twenty volumes), philosophy, culture, as well as on contemporary Ukrainian poetry and prose. I have only left The Day’s two-volume book Extract 150 on my desk in Kyiv. You presented it to me a few weeks ago, when I was visiting your editorial office. Every evening I try to find an article that fits in with my mood. Yesterday I chose Volodymyr Panchenko’s article on the poetry Lina Kostenko wrote in the times of the “thaw” and the “frosts.” I am a longtime admirer of this poetess. I have known very much about her life and oeuvre even before, but I had never read her Raiska elehia (“Paradise Elegy”) which the article reproduces in full. In my opinion, this is the poem of a genius. I do not think I have ever read something of the kind written by Lithuanian poets. This old-new Biblical story about the “repressed Eve” really moved me. Then I chose to read an extremely interesting story about St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv. I felt as if I were walking again through this superb masterpiece of architecture and looking at thousands-year-old frescoes. Now I know that whenever I miss Kyiv in Vilnius, I will take your books and read them again. I can see that the books are also full of other interesting articles. They are extremely interesting to Lithuanian readers because we had several centuries of common history.

In Vilnius, I will keep these two volumes, as well as your newspaper’s other publications, on my desk. Let me thank you again for the nice present. I will be looking forward to your new books.

Yours sincerely,

Algirdas Kumza, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Lithuanian Republic to Ukraine