Category: News stories

Two pysanky up close

I still have a few pee wee eggs left and am trying to use them up while they’re still fresh enough to sink in the dye. I had a massive edit to do in the last few weeks and hadn’t done much of anything else, so writing 5 pysanky over the weekend was glorious. I wanted to try an old favorite division — 4 circles. These two pysanky have the 4 circles. I’m very pleased with the orange and black fish and snake egg!

The Rings, audio edition, to benefit Ukrainian artists

When the war in Ukraine began, Jennifer Jill Araya, the voice actor for the audio editions of Making Bombs for Hitler and Stolen Girl, approached me with empathy and an idea. She told me about a project that the Professional Audiobook Narrators’ Association was putting together, which was an audio anthology of Ukraine-related stories, with the proceeds going to support artists in Ukraine. She asked if I might have a work that she could be the voice actor for, with both of us donating our efforts to the project. I was grateful for the opportunity to assist. My story, The Rings, is set during the Holodomor. Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you, to all of the creators who contributed to this massive project. Press release is below.

A Word is Not a Sparrow: A Benefit Anthology for Ukraine Relief

A Word is Not a Sparrow: A Benefit Anthology for Ukraine Relief

Jennifer Jill Araya, voice actor

David Swerdloff, co-producer                                                                    Local contact:

Professional Audiobook Narrators Association            

(954) 786-1272                                                   

davearlington@gmail.com

A Word is Not a Sparrow: A Benefit Anthology for Ukraine Relief

For immediate release

Audiobook narrators launch audio anthology in support of Ukrainian artists impacted by war.

NEW YORK, NY – April 8, 2024

Artists in Ukraine have lost their livelihoods. The Ukraine Audiobook Relief Project was launched to support artists in Ukraine whose lives are threatened because of war.

It is a fundamental aspect of war to suppress story, language and the arts. Artists in Ukraine have lost their homes, their studios, their galleries, their communities, their livelihoods as a result of the war. Moved by this crisis of culture, members of PANA (the Professional Audiobook Narrators Association) created A Word Is Not A Sparrow, an audiobook anthology to raise money in support for artists living through war. The audiobook releases globally June 11 and will be available in CD as well as digital download formats.

Volunteer professional narrators, writers, and musicians have donated their creative work, and all profits generated through the sale of this audiobook will be donated to the Artists at Risk Connection in Ukraine through PEN America, a non-profit organization that endeavors to safeguard the right to artistic freedom of expression and ensure that artists and cultural professionals everywhere can live and work without fear.

The folk wisdom of Ukraine includes this expression: “A word is not a sparrow…once it flies out, you won’t catch it.” A Word Is Not A Sparrow is a diverse anthology of stories set amid Russian repression through the centuries; personal narrator testimony about the impact in America of immigrant grandparents from Ukraine and elsewhere; powerful fables and allegories that deliver universal messages about displacement, migration and human connection; and classic Cossack folk tales that are a touchstone of Ukrainian culture. Listen as we let these words fly out around the world.

Writers include Barry Abrams, Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh, Andrea Emmes and Karen Bogel, Vladislav Davidzon, Christopher Dewees, Thaisa Frank, Teresa Johnson, Alla Kudzieva, Taras Shevchenko, and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. Narrators include Barry Abrams, Jennifer Jill Araya, Dave Arlington, Rosemary Benson, Anna Crowe, Claudia Dunn, Andrea Emmes, Gary Furlong, Rebecca Gallagher, Caroline Hewitt, Susan Iannucci, Elizabeth Jasicki, Tom Jordan, Jennifer March, Janet Metzger, Rich Miller, Erin Moon, Sara Morsey, Traci Odom, Sheri Saginor and Tiffany Williams. Musical artists include Michael Nazaretz & the Samovar Russian Folk Ensemble, and Jeff Crompton, Roger French, and Kenny Raskin who have ties to Atlanta.

The Professional Audiobook Narrators Association champions the irreplaceable role of human narrators. In a world increasingly reliant on technology, PANA believes the human story is most powerfully told by human voices. Human narrators bring a depth of emotion, nuance, and lived experience that artificial intelligence simply cannot replicate. PANA is the only organization advocating for narrators in the public consciousness and leading the change we want to see in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the audiobook industry.

Kidnapped from Ukraine: Under Attack

To be published by Scholastic on Jan 7, 2025.

This gripping, accessible novel by celebrated Ukrainian Canadian author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch follows two sisters as they struggle to survive the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

12-year-old twin sisters Rada and Dariia Popkova couldn’t be more different. Dariia is outgoing and chatty while Rada is a quieter and artsy. But what they have in common is their love for each other and their home. The family lives in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is attacked by the Russians on Feb 24th, 2022.

The attack separates the family — Dariia is with her mom and Rada with her dad. Dariia and her mother are then separated by Russian officials and Dariia is sent to live with a Russian family. As the war rages around them, the sisters and their family must overcome unimaginable hardships. But they will learn how powerful hope is in the face of disaster.

*”Gut-punching: This is essential reading.” — Kirkus, starred review

“important and tough to read novel, which fictionalizes, in harsh detail, true events from a child’s point of view.” — Publishers Weekly