British Council Ukraine Director reads Taras Shevchenko poems in English on the 200th anniversary of the poet’s birth

(News archive: 09 March 2014)

British Council Ukraine Director reads Taras Shevchenko poems in English on the 200th anniversary of the poet’s birth

The British Council joined representatives of France, Japan, Germany and Poland in a cultural celebration of the poetry of Taras Shevchenko in front of a packed audience at the Maidan in Kyiv on Sunday 09 March.   
British Council Director, Martin Dowle, read an English translation of “If it does not touch me” (Мені однаково, чи буду), translated by one of the key translators of Taras Shevchenko’s work, Vera Rich, in 1961.
The event, compered by Ukraine’s new Minister of Culture, Yevhen Nyschuk, in front of tens of thousands of people, was transmitted on main television channels across Ukraine as part of the celebrations on the 200th anniversary of the poet’s birth.

British Council joined other cultural institutes in celebrating Ukraine's national poet with recitals of poems at Maidan and Taras Shevchenko Museum. Video from espreso.tv

This Thursday heads of cultural institutes, including the British Council, represented in Ukraine will read the poem “У неділеньку у святую” of the great poet in Ukrainian in the Museum of Taras Shevchenko in 12, Taras Shevchenko Blvd, Kyiv.
British Council Director, Martin Dowle, said: “It has been a great honour for the British Council to be invited to take part in the 200th anniversary celebrations. I hope in some small way it extends knowledge of this great Ukrainian poet – and of the translations of Vera Rich – amongst English speakers”.

(News archive: 09 March 2014)

Get more details on the website: http://www.britishcouncil.org.ua/