Status: 10/23/2022 2:38 p.m
He is a writer, musician and volunteer during the war: the Ukrainian Serhij Zhadan was honored with the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for his work and his humanitarian commitment.
The Ukrainian author and musician Serhij Zhadan was awarded the Peace Prize in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche. “Zhadan inspires us – linguistically, literary, musically,” said the head of the German Book Trade Association, Karin Schmidt-Friderichs.
“War Damages Language”
“It is sad and significant that we are talking about the Peace Prize at a time when war is raging again in Europe,” said 48-year-old Zhadan in his acceptance speech. The war changes the sense of time and space. He explained that those who find themselves in the area of war do not make any plans for the future. He also described the painful experience of how the pressure of war changes and damages language in its usual form. It is unbearable to lose the language as a familiar medium.
Appreciated as a humanist
The laudatory speech was held by the writer Sasha Marianna Salzmann, known for novels such as “Everything must be wonderful in people”. In it, Zhadan was honored as an important poet and humanist: “Ukrainian society takes a deep breath in Zhadan’s poetry.” He “never takes a bird’s eye view” in his works and never shows any distance.
“He’s always in the midst of his people, he speaks and writes out of their lungs, so to speak.” At the same time, Salzmann emphasized that while literature does not end a war, it does hold the world together by letting us experience the “inside of what is human”.
Formative for Kharkiv’s cultural scene
The author, who was born in the Luhansk region, is one of the most important voices in contemporary Ukrainian literature. He has shaped the cultural scene in Kharkiv since the 1990s, organizes literature and music festivals and publishes novels, poems, short stories and essays. His work has been translated into numerous languages. Zhadan writes his texts in Ukrainian, but he also translates poetry into Ukrainian, including from German. He also writes lyrics for various rock bands and has been the singer of a Ukrainian band since 2007, which translates as “Dogs in Space”.
Serhej Zhadan reports almost documentary about surviving in the war in the book “Himmel über Kharkiv” that has just been published. Since Crimea was occupied in 2014, Zhadan has also been involved in social and cultural projects in the partially occupied eastern Ukraine. Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine at the end of February 2022, he has been providing more humanitarian aid.
Peace Prize has been awarded since 1950
The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade has been awarded since 1950. It is intended to honor people who have contributed to the realization of the idea of peace in literature, science or art. Last year the award went to author and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga from Zimbabwe.