Unbound

 

Unbound: Ukrainian Canadians Writing Home 
ed. by Lisa Grekul & Lindy Ledohowski
TO: UofT Press, c2016.
168 p.

This month I'll be sharing many of the Ukrainian themed reads I've been examining over the last little while. I'm starting with some books written by the Ukrainian diaspora. This one is a collection of essays about being Ukrainian, and feeling (or not feeling) the connection with the ancestral past, by Canadian women writers. 

The authors included are: 

• Janice Kulyk Keefer
• Elizabeth Bachinsky
• Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
• Marusya Bociurkiw
• Erín Moure
• Daria Salamon
• Myrna Kostash

Each of these shares their experiences investigating their Ukrainian heritage and identity, in their own ways. And this list of authors is a great way to explore further writing by each, so that you may end up with a good handful of both novels and nonfiction to explore. I've read other work by most of these authors, and so was really interested to see what they'd say in this context. 

I found this collection pretty strong, with a lot of fascinating food for thought. I felt very close to the way Janice Kulyk Keefer wrote about growing up with Ukrainian family members, and the sense of lacking essential "Ukrainian-ness" herself, because she didn't speak the language. I found each of the essays had something to ponder, although I was most caught by Kulyk Keefer, Skrypuch and Bociurkiw's writing. I've read quite a bit by each of these authors so perhaps that's why they resonated with me so much. I've also just finished one of Bociurkiw's memoirs, and found similar passages in this book (I'll be sharing that one shortly). 

This is an academic book, so I was fortunate to find it via my library - it's not widely available. I enjoyed it and wondered while I was reading what these authors might have to say now, after Ukraine has seen so much more world awareness over the past two years of war and invasion. I know it's changed my own sense of relationship to my Ukrainian ancestors and identity.  

Very worth reading this one, I recommend it to anyone interested in the Ukrainian Canadian experience, but also the experience of being third or fourth generation immigrants of any kind. It gave me a lot to think over.