For the past several Decembers I’ve been invited to attend the awards gala for the Peterson Literary Fund, but I’ve only been able to attend this year and last. Both years, the evening was profound in unexpected ways. This year’s event was to celebrate excellence in translation. The Turkish translation of Robert Paul Magosci’s iconic A History of Ukraine was the top prize winner. This recognition thrilled me not only because this translation will help educate Turkish readers about the history of Ukraine at a time when Russian disinformation is rampant, but also because two of the three translators are scholars who have generously assisted me with research for a novel set partly in the Ottoman Empire in the 1500s: Maryna Kravets and Victor Ostapchuk.
Another honoured book was the English translation of Iroida Wynnyckyj’s Extraordinary Lives of Ukrainian Canadian Women, translated by Marta Olynyk. Iroida has connected me with many people to interview for my books ever since I first began writing books. It was so nice to see her at this event and congratulate her in person. And by sheer coincidence, my husband and I were seated at the same table as the daughter of one of those key interviewees — Marta Varvaruk, the daughter of Anelia Varvaruk — whose crisp memories and spirited endurance of her time in a Nazi slave camp became key inspiration for my most popular novel, Making Bombs for Hitler.
