Stanisław Lem once slipped away, having built his own world where he was the hospitable and slightly ironic host rather than someone who had to adapt to the world of others, expecting and kowtowing. Lem...
Bruno Schulz is a writer and artist of Jewish origin, born in Drohobych. While his most famous works were written in Polish, he left his cultural mark in the memory of multiple peoples represented in...
Ukrainians and Jews have lived side-by-side on the territory of modern-day Ukraine for nearly two millennia. Separately and together, they weaved a tapestry that has left an indelible mark on Ukraine's cultural, linguistic, and historical...
Zuzanna Ginczanka published only one collection of poems in her lifetime (On Centaurs, 1936), but her work became a sensation in Polish literary circles. A Jew by origin, she was born in Kyiv, lived in...
Originally appeared in Ukrainian @lb.ua Marta Konyk Olexander Scherba is a diplomat, author, and ambassador-at-large at Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2024, he chaired the jury of Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize, which addresses...
As a poet who was born in Ukraine and survived the Holocaust there, Paul Celan was able to speak clearly on the issue of poetry in times of catastrophe. His response is still relevant today...
Marta Konyk Originally appeared in Ukrainian @LB.ua Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science and history at Columbia University and a writer and artist. In 2024, he was a jury member for Encounter:...
History sometimes imposes itself on life so fatally that even the most correct and worthy choices are disastrous, but it is impossible to know this in advance. "It's good to be alone; it's delicious to...
Originally appeared in Ukrainian @lb.ua Marta Konyk Iuliia Bentia is an art, music, and theater critic, archivist, and editor of the Krytyka journal. In 2024, she was a jury member of Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary...
In 2024, Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize was awarded in the nonfiction category and went to Yuriy Skira for his book Solid. The Life-Saving Footwear Factory, recently published by the Lviv-based Choven publishing house. The...
Ukrainians and Jews have lived as neighbours for centuries, creating and sharing enduring cultures that continue to inform their identities today. Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (UJE) is proud to present Part 1 of an integrated narrative of these two peoples in the belief that there is much to be gained by viewing their historical experience together, in all its complexity.
Since its launch in September 2022, the UJE Timeline has earned international recognition by winning eight international awards:
The 'Encounter' prize aims to build on the common experiences of Ukrainians and Jews over the centuries, expressed in literature and nonfiction. The Prize will be awarded annually to the most influential work in literature and nonfiction (in alternate years) that fosters Ukrainian-Jewish understanding, helping solidify Ukraine's place as a multi-ethnic society and giving truth to the motto, "Our stories are incomplete without each other."
The goal of the richly illustrated catalogue is to present an integrated narrative that looks at the experience of these two peoples together, in all its complexity — through periods of crisis, as well as long stretches of normal co-existence and multifaceted cultural interaction from antiquity to 1914.
