Ukrainian Association in Finland: ‘We are doing everything to ensure Ukrainians are heard’

A key priority for the Ukrainian Association in Finland (UAF) is to ensure that Ukrainian voices are heard and that Ukrainian culture is visibly recognized, the organization announced.

“Unfortunately, the topic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is often discussed without Ukraine, which is wrong. We do everything to allow Ukrainians to speak out,” says Nataliya Teramae, coordinator of cultural projects at the UAF.

One avenue for this expression is cultural diplomacy. This year, UAF proudly represented Ukraine at the Helsinki Book Fair, one of the largest book shows in the Nordic region.

“Without our participation, Ukraine would not have been represented at the fair, while Russian authors and their themes continue to dominate the spotlight,” Teramae said in a statement to the UWC.

The Ukrainian component included a stand and five events according to the program’s #WomeninWartime topic. Special guests from Ukraine included Yaryna Chornohuz, a military officer and poet laureate of the Taras Shevchenko Prize, and Eugenia Kuznetsova, an author whose novel “Ask Miechka” was nominated for the EU literary prize.

During the fair, Vydavnytstvo publishing house, one of the publishers at the Ukrainian stand, sold the rights of their comic book to Finnish publishing house TAMMI. 

“A Short History of the Long War with Russia” by Mariam Naiem, a Ukrainian of Afghan origin, will be published in Finland. The book explains what Ukrainians have been experiencing over the past three years, and also highlights Russia’s actions over the past three centuries.

At the fair, the Ukrainian authors were cooked borsch, a beet-root soup that is listed on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list, as they discussed the need for translations of Ukrainian literature into Finnish. 

“The amount of Finnish translations of Ukrainian literature has increased over the last two years. I have translated seven books. However, there could be more, but we are lacking translators,” stated Eero Balk, an experienced translator.

This year, 97,000 visitors attended the Helsinki Book Fair from October 24 to 27.