Internationally published Ukrainian poet Iryna Vikyrchak, who has been living in Calcutta for the last four years and is now set to bid adieu to the city and head off to France, had the most perfect farewell lying in wait for her on August 27, when the Bengali and English translations of her 2021 book of Ukrainian poetry, Algometry, were launched at The Red Bari on Sadananda Road.
Iryna, who has four books of poetry to her name, took part in a panel discussion with Avantika Jalan, founder of The Red Bari, and the people behind the Bangla translation of her work — Deb Chowdhury and Sunandan Roy Chowdhury, translator and publisher, respectively, at Sampark Press — to discuss what poetry means to her, the universality of the genre to connect and bring together disparate communities, and how she will be carrying her four years in Calcutta with her for the rest of her life.
Speaking at the session about her approach towards writing poetry and what inspired the book in the original, Iryna said: “This book was published in 2021, and it’s really about millennials. We were the first generation to do so many things. Our childhood was in the ’90s, and those were peculiar times, since we grew up in the shadow of the Chernobyl disaster. We were also the first generation to start going to therapy, because we carried with us the repercussions of war and post-colonial trauma while at the same time trying to create new identities and new connections. The book is extremely personal, but I hope I have used a universal language to explain that universal yet personal context. Poetry has been in my life for 25 years. It’s my way of seeing the world, of experiencing it, and it is part of who I am.”
Sunandan Roy Chowdhury expressed his pleasure in being involved with a project like this. He said: “I was really struck by the depth of Iryna’s poetry when it was rendered in Bangla. Iryna comes from a world that Bengal cannot entirely relate to, yet her poetry is so powerful that it effortlessly brings out points of connection. What stands out is the universality of her work — several things in this book may appeal to Bengalis, and what is even more important is that there is hardly any Ukrainian work that is published in Bangla very often. We are very proud and humbled to have been associated with this endeavour.”
It is worth noting that the Bengali translation of Algometry is titled Dukkho Maapar Jontro — literally translating into ‘the instrument for measuring sorrow/pain’. The title was inspired by a scientific study done on astronauts, which looked at how astronauts feel and process pain while in space and after returning to Earth. “That really got me thinking,” Iryna said, elaborating on the concept of pain existing even beyond the Earth. “We feel a lot of pain here on Earth, and we would feel it anywhere else. That, to me, is the key to understanding the balance between pain, love, and brevity — why humans hurt at all. I figure pain and suffering are what make us all human in the end.”
Iryna also spoke fondly of her association with Calcutta. “The fact that everyone is here today feels like a farewell present for me. Over my four years in the city, I have worn many hats, and I know my next poems will be deeply influenced by all the knowledge, experiences, and conversations I’ve had here. When you live somewhere, you always leave a part of yourself behind, and at the same time, that place stays in you, becomes a part of you. Calcutta will always stay with me. It has really become home. The warmth of the people, their generosity, the friendships, the inspiration I’ve found here, the audience today, the people I admire and who inspire me… it’s all priceless.”
Avantika, who moderated the panel and read out some of the English versions of the poems (translated by Nina Murray for Lost Horse Press), signed off on the event. “We at The Red Bari have been trying to curate more events where people can get together to actually bond and create community spirit, but it doesn’t happen as often as we would like. Iryna had been working on her book for the last year, and this was something The Red Bari hadn’t been able to do before. So it really gives me a lot of pleasure that we could host this, and that she chose our space for the launch,” she said, bringing the evening to a close.
