Ivan Malkovych doesn’t need to be specially introduced. It is hard to imagine Ukrainian cultural life of last several decades without him. He is a very sensitive, polyphonic poet, whose poems are the milestone of the whole generation for many people, “creator of porcelain cities” and Christmas fairy plays. Apart from all that, he is also a publisher, the head of nearly the most successful Ukrainian publisher. There, near the office of “A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA” publisher I saw him parking his car. Mr. Malkovych had a little time, but our interview, which started in his office, gradually came across all the time formats and ended in a nearby coffee shop.
There is not enough time, it’s true. Apart from all the work, I am also recording programs on the Ukrainian radio about the anthology now [The Anthology of Ukrainian XX Century Poetry. From Tychyna to Zhadan – ED.] The audience reacted great. People also came up to me at the Knyzhkovyi Arsenal (“Book Arsenal” – the largest event in Kyiv where art and literature come together) and asked, “We’ve heard about Holodnyi, Chubai… When will you talk again?” This summer I dream to dive into a new third (last) poetry anthology – from Velychkovskyi (or from “The word…”) to Oles. The previous anthology started with Tychyna, so I’d like to cover all the Ukrainian poetry…
Is “The Anthology of the Young [“The Anthology of the Young Ukrainian III Millennium Poetry – ED.] second to last from this series?
Yes, it is. It is hard to work with young people, but it is very engaging. Frankly speaking, I had been skeptical as for our youngest poetry before I started to work on this anthology. But then I loved it. In such a period of time – about 25 years, there cannot be a big amount of good poets. But there are. At least, 10-15 names. I’ve opened for myself Myhailo Zharzhailo and some other poets, because I knew the majority of the authors due to my Taras, as he is also on the list of the youngest poets. Does anybody criticize me? Well, some even get offended. You should make it clear from the very beginning: if you are going to bring out an anthology of contemporary poets, you’ll get about two thousand enemies as well – authors, whose poems hadn’t been included into the anthology. It is a very sad side of an “anthological” marathon… After the book was published, we realized with Myroslav Laiuk (he compiled the anthology) that we had just forgotten about some poets. For example, about Sashko Fraze-Frazenko, Pavlo Shchyrytsia.
By the way, you have also included some texts in Russian, haven’t you?
Only one. The poem by Anastasiia Dmytruk “We will never be brothers” (2014). Some young poetic snobs say we could do without this poem, but, you know, there is some highest truth. This poem is very important for Ukrainians! It has played a big role! I’ve also included Anastasiia’s Ukrainian poems in the book. As well as poems by a Crimean poetess who lives in Crimea now – let God help her. There are texts of the boy who was born in December, 2000. And this is truly the poetry of the beginning of the third millennium. It was interesting, how these children would write?
Do you think that everybody who writes in Russian but lives in Ukraine is a Ukrainian author? As for me, I don’t have precise criteria even if people set themselves up as Ukrainian authors. Tomorrow they may move to Vologda – everything is possible – and their self-identification may change. And even if they insist on their belonging to Ukrainian culture there, they will be hardly taken seriously.
I absolutely agree. I have included several Ukrainian poems of a Russian-speaking (mainly) poetess, but I haven’t included her Russian poems on purpose. Dmytruk is an exception. As well as the only exception in “The Anthology of Ukrainian XX century Poetry” – 4 poems by Leonid Kiseliov. This person, as well as his family, was very much into Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian reality. In the last year of his short life (he died at 22), he started to write in Ukrainian. Completely! By the way, one of his last poems in Russian, which was devoted to Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian national poet, ended like this, “I take a big oath… At your door…” You know, I think it is about his switching to the Ukrainian language. Of course, it is only a presumption, but… It took me aback.
They have been speaking much about patriotism lately. What is it for you?
For me, patriotism, apart from the common definition, is loyalty and non-cheating. These things may seem elementary, but they are the most crucial. Deeds matter in the first place. For example, I haven’t told often to my children that the Ukrainian language is beautiful and charming. I’ve just read them such things in Ukrainian so they could realize: this is the best. Because how can dad cheat? We just need to do something. As for me, I publish books, and they are in Ukrainian. I think it is patriotism. If someone is an excellent professional in Ukraine but he or she doesn’t migrate – they are patriots. Because they benefit for themselves and also give something to their Motherland.
Does it mean you have not pressed upon your sons in this regard?
The boys knew about their grandfathers, uncles and cousin grandfathers and uncles. Only Yaryna’s (Ivan Malkovych’s wife) grandfather was an officer in the UPA (Ukrayins’ka Povstans’ka Armiya – The Ukrainian Insurgent Army – a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan army that engaged in a series of guerrilla conflicts during World War II against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and both Underground and Communist Poland). He and his three brothers were killed by Moscow. Many relatives were ostracised to Siberia. This family background gets the facts straight and makes everything clear. I can’t even imagine my children speaking Russian. However, at school, my elder son Taras started to speak Russian with boys who were trying to bully him. They studied with Hordii, who is 7 years younger, at the same school. When Hordii was a second-grader, it seemed to him that somebody was talking to Taras rudely. So, he ran up and bumped that boy’s stomach with his head! The boy even fell down… Hordii had no problems with the Russian language at all. Of course, they know it. But there is a paradox: Taras had the best Russian spelling among his classmates…
What are boys up to now? I remember you said once you cared for them much. That you’re not just a ”mom” in the family, but rather a “Jewish mom”.
Oh! They have already become their own masters, they don’t live with us anymore. It is not easy for me, for Yaryna as well, but she doesn’t show it. But I… (laughs). Fortunately, they’re having what to do. Taras translated TV shows for Netflix – the biggest world corporation that creates TV shows as well. But they have paused a Ukrainian program because no film in the Ukrainian language was bought. Ukrainians download everything for free. Taras is also busy with other overseas films. Hordii is finishing his master’s degree now but already works as a marketer with overseas companies. He is very independent. Taras is working with films, with Hordii and with me now.
Well, maybe Taras will make “A-BA-BA…” a leading world publisher?
I wish he began doing it… He has been teaching me a lot lately. He is 22 and in some issues he takes me as a relic of the Stone Age. Because he and his generation look at the world differently. Even Taras who is a bit elder, sometimes says, “Well, Hordii belongs to quite a different generation.” The world is very dynamic, and it is moving fast. I’ve heard that in China, they build a 57-floor building in 19 days. The bridge is built in 72 hours. We are getting behind. However, young people have this dynamics, it is common to them. They don’t have any obstacles. They can do something great in 5 days, meantime, I’ll need 2-3 months to do it.
Anyway, do you still call your sons and give them instructions?
Oh… Well, Hordii says to me, “Dad, if you gave me fewer instructions, it would be even more pleasure for me to answer your calls.” That’s why I do my best to give no instructions. Now they can give a valuable advice to me (laughs). I am always happy when they call.
What about grandchildren?
Not yet… Our garden has grown thickly. Cats of Beniuk (Bohdan Beniuk is a famous Ukrainian actor, a neighbor of Ivan Malkovych) come to us, we feed them. They are fed well at home, but we have quite conditional borders so they can easily come. I’ve always dreamt to live in the country. At my small motherland – in the Carpathians, the village of Nyzhnii Bereziv, our family has a big piece of land. We had 15 or 17 hectares. But then the Soviets came and absolutely fairly said that one family didn’t need so much. After 1989, they gave back us about 5 hectares. I’ve built a house next to my parent’s house. My friends sometimes come. It is very beautiful there: a river, a forest, and mountains.
In historical regard, those lands are also quite interesting…
Yes. As the book “Bereziv boyars in Ukrainian history” says, we were boyars, Malkovychs, Arsenychs – I am Arsenych from my mother’s side. In 1486, 26 boyar families were announced nobles. However, in the neighboring village of Liuchi, ordinary people lived (laughs). My dad remembered the tradition, which remained popular up till the 1950s. The right to wear shirts with embroidered collars belonged only to nobles, namely to Bereziv citizens. If a citizen of Liuchi had worn such a shirt, then a Bereziv citizen could have torn a collar off. And the former didn’t say a word because he understood that he didn’t have a right for that, can you imagine? Many of us have family crests. So do we. The main colors are blue and yellow. It is a Sas coat of arms: crescent with its horns pointed upwards, two six-pointed stars and one silver arrow. In the beginning, about 200 families belonged to this coat of arms. It seems to me that Andruhovychs (Yurii Andruhovych is one of the most famous and successful Ukrainian contemporary poets and writers) also belong to it. It is just a fun for a modern person. However, it is our history.
Did the belonging to boyars influence a cultural life of the village?
People of Bereziv always were keen on culture. In 1880, a Ukrainian school was opened there, there were also a Polish school and two churches. Ivan Franko and Bohdan-Ihor Antonovych (famous Ukrainian poets) spent summers in Bereziv. There was always a choir. Franko wrote in his autobiography that after the Kolomyia prison, Arsenych – my remote relative, rescued him from starvation (sometimes I joke that as the gratitude for that rescue, Franko helped me to make up the name for my publisher. 100 years ago, he created the beloved character of a schoolboy named Hritz who recited his ABC’s by the baby sounds “A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA”).
The village had a small theatre, which functioned at Soviet times as well. My dad and mom played in that theatre. I also played in one performance called “Pharaohs” by Oleksii Kolomiets.
I played a delivery boy. We visited all the neighboring villages with this play. Imagine my feelings – I traveled not as a boy but as an actor! Once when my father played in the “Naimychka” (“The Servant Girl” by Taras Shevchenko), he started to cry so badly that we had to pause the play. The excess of sentiments is our family feature…
Do you often go to Bereziv?
I go there from time to time. Dad is gone. The sister, who also wrote poems, also died. But I have my mom. My sister’s daughter – my niece – has just given birth to a girl. We are happy. I used to go to Bereziv more often, almost every weekend. But roads have become very awful, and it is hard to get there. Taking into account the fact that the main road to Bukovel (Ukrainian Carpathian resort) goes across our village. But nobody uses this road because there are only holes instead of the road…
In one of our interviews, you mentioned once that you usually get there in 6 hours. But then you said: “Don’t tell traffic cops”…
5:32 is my record. From Bereziv to Kyiv with one stop at petrol station in Ternopil. But it is all in the past. The age and roads matter. Well, now I am a law-abiding citizen. What are you mocking at?…
Does age influence your interest in tennis?
No, I still play tennis. But not that self-confidently as earlier. Sometimes it seems to me that some opponents just will knock me down: there are people who throw very hard. But still, I have much more wins than losses. I always play with Yaryna’s brother and Ruslan Kostyshyn, my neighbor-footballer. I played with my kum (relationship between parents and godfather of a child) and neighbor Beniuk, but it is not his game. He is more into football.
Let’s talk about politics a bit. What do your experience and intuition tell you: will Ukraine finally get independent from neighbors’ influence? How will granting the Tomos on Autocephaly of Orthodox Church in Ukraine influence our prospects?
It is very important! I think much depends on this. This document could blow up some things, which like thrombosis, don’t let our society develop, poison a national organism. We know that the Moscow church acts here as an ideological branch of the empire.
I am very delighted that one of the first people who began talking about the Tomos was Kyrylo Hovorun. He is one of the most prominent theologists in the world. I’ve known him since 2009 when I was publishing “The Gospel for Children” and asked for a blessing all the first hierarchs of traditional Ukrainian Christian churches. He was then the head of PR department at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). I asked him when we first met, “Do you realize that Ukraine will be absolutely independent only when there will be a uniting local cathedral church?” He answered, “Of course. Everything is good in its season.” I was satisfied with that answer; it seemed a great one to me. Then he supported the deanathematizing of Mazepa (a Ukrainian Hetman of the XVIII century) and the Revolution of Dignity. Finally, the Russian church fired him from all the positions, for that time he had already run all the overseas colleges of the Moscow church!
What about the prospects?
We don’t know to what extent Putin is insane. He is unpredictable. We should act on our own and not hope for others. I think we have big chances. But we also should take unpopular decisions. For example, we have to temporarily limit the right to vote for the people who are now living in the occupied territory. The history has had such examples. The situation is very uneasy now, much depends on Russian money on Ukrainian TV channels. If I were entitled, I would definitely ban such channels as “Inter” and “NewsOne”.
Anyway, you’ve always tried to be aside from the politics. Will you vote at the elections?
I always vote. Never missed elections. Whom will I vote for? I don’t know yet. We have the whole year ahead. I am always rather a pragmatist. Affection and preferences are the one thing, but I also consider whether my vote will influence anything. A vote must weigh something. You have only one.
What do you think about the work of the Kyiv mayor?
It seems like there are many benefits, some roads are being repaired… But where I live, roads are awful, it where the light rail is. There is a ring road. It is only 200 meters in length. The authorities were repairing the half of this road 4 months last year, the second half has been being repaired almost for 3 months, the problem is only 1-2 people are working there, that’s all… Potholes are awful…
Does a permanent damaging of the downtown disturb you?
It depends. I was one of the people who supported that glass atrium in the courtyard of the Shevchenko Museum. I do like it. It is my favorite space. The fact that it is of poor quality but it’s another issue. As for the downtown… Once I walked on the top of the “Parus” [33-floor business-center – ED.]. A friend of mine had an office on the twenty-something floor, and I was shocked. The view from there is a proof of corruption of all the Kyiv architect officials, of all times. Buildings are just put there without any order. It is not even eclecticism, it is just chaos. And I remembered Paris where I’ve been for this New Year. At the end of the XIX century, all the old buildings were knocked down there, and new ones were built. Only imagine, what historical personalities had lived in those buildings! And everything was knocked down! But they built new gorgeous buildings, making quarters in the form of squares. I wouldn’t mind if they knocked down the old central gastronome at the Khreshchatyk and other buildings just up till the Shevchenko Boulevard and built something in one style. I wish they knocked down those three new buildings, including the “Kozatskyi” hotel, which close the view on the Saint Sophia’s Cathedral…
Let’s talk about politics a bit. What do your experience and intuition tell you: will Ukraine finally get independent from neighbors’ influence? How will granting the Tomos on Autocephaly of Orthodox Church in Ukraine influence our prospects?
It is very important! I think much depends on this. This document could blow up some things, which like thrombosis, don’t let our society develop, poison a national organism. We know that the Moscow church acts here as an ideological branch of the empire.
I am very delighted that one of the first people who began talking about the Tomos was Kyrylo Hovorun. He is one of the most prominent theologists in the world. I’ve known him since 2009 when I was publishing “The Gospel for Children” and asked for a blessing all the first hierarchs of traditional Ukrainian Christian churches. He was then the head of PR department at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). I asked him when we first met, “Do you realize that Ukraine will be absolutely independent only when there will be a uniting local cathedral church?” He answered, “Of course. Everything is good in its season.” I was satisfied with that answer; it seemed a great one to me. Then he supported the deanathematizing of Mazepa (a Ukrainian Hetman of the XVIII century) and the Revolution of Dignity. Finally, the Russian church fired him from all the positions, for that time he had already run all the overseas colleges of the Moscow church!
What about the prospects?
We don’t know to what extent Putin is insane. He is unpredictable. We should act on our own and not hope for others. I think we have big chances. But we also should take unpopular decisions. For example, we have to temporarily limit the right to vote for the people who are now living in the occupied territory. The history has had such examples. The situation is very uneasy now, much depends on Russian money on Ukrainian TV channels. If I were entitled, I would definitely ban such channels as “Inter” and “NewsOne”.
Anyway, you’ve always tried to be aside from the politics. Will you vote at the elections?
I always vote. Never missed elections. Whom will I vote for? I don’t know yet. We have the whole year ahead. I am always rather a pragmatist. Affection and preferences are the one thing, but I also consider whether my vote will influence anything. A vote must weigh something. You have only one.
What do you think about the work of the Kyiv mayor?
It seems like there are many benefits, some roads are being repaired… But where I live, roads are awful, it where the light rail is. There is a ring road. It is only 200 meters in length. The authorities were repairing the half of this road 4 months last year, the second half has been being repaired almost for 3 months, the problem is only 1-2 people are working there, that’s all… Potholes are awful…
Does a permanent damaging of the downtown disturb you?
It depends. I was one of the people who supported that glass atrium in the courtyard of the Shevchenko Museum. I do like it. It is my favorite space. The fact that it is of poor quality but it’s another issue. As for the downtown… Once I walked on the top of the “Parus” [33-floor business-center – ED.]. A friend of mine had an office on the twenty-something floor, and I was shocked. The view from there is a proof of corruption of all the Kyiv architect officials, of all times. Buildings are just put there without any order. It is not even eclecticism, it is just chaos. And I remembered Paris where I’ve been for this New Year. At the end of the XIX century, all the old buildings were knocked down there, and new ones were built. Only imagine, what historical personalities had lived in those buildings! And everything was knocked down! But they built new gorgeous buildings, making quarters in the form of squares. I wouldn’t mind if they knocked down the old central gastronome at the Khreshchatyk and other buildings just up till the Shevchenko Boulevard and built something in one style. I wish they knocked down those three new buildings, including the “Kozatskyi” hotel, which close the view on the Saint Sophia’s Cathedral…
May we leave at least Bessarabka (a historical neighbourhood in Kiev)?
I don’t mind if they rebuilt it as it is now, but using modern technologies, as far as we live in the third millennium, indeed!
What is “A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA” going to show us this year?
There will be many new products. But there’s one special, really… I think that in July-August, Lina Kostenko (a great Ukrainian poetess) will give us the manuscript of her new prose book. By the way, we have just published her verse novel “Marusia Churai”. As far as I know, Lina Kostenko is satisfied with the publication. The illustrations were created by Vladyslav Yerko. These, by the way, are very creative illustrations.
Will it be a prose this time?
Yes. I read the first version of the manuscript 2 years ago. It became more interesting now. Lina Kostenko has been constantly improving it. It is quite a universal work, it covers almost the whole XIX century. Our website says, “A new prose book by Lina Kostenko is being prepared for publishing. This fiction book reflects evolution and degradation of the Russian Empire through the prism of Ukrainian fates.” It is enough for now.
Do you expect that it will be a sensation, bestseller?
I think so. However, I don’t want to give any definitions and exclamation marks in advance. I wish everything were as we have dreamt. At least, I believe that it is a very important book. I won’t say anything about the title, we’ll wait till Lina Kostenko gives us the manuscript. By the way, it is very comfortable to work with her, we have a mutually trustful collaboration… I hope she has the same opinion. The book is to be published this year. I don’t think we will have done it by the Lviv forum (a big book forum in Lviv), because all other books may fade against such a prominent one.
Interview by Pavlo Volvach
Photo by Taras Podolian
