Literature as memory and voice of Ukraine: Andrej Kurkov at COD

Ukraine’s voice was heard at the Centre for Openness and Dialogue (COD) through literature, memory and humour, in a meeting with one of the best-known contemporary Ukrainian writers, Andrej Kurkov.

This is Kurkov’s first visit to Albania.

At the centre of the conversation was his novel “Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv”, a work shortlisted for the prestigious International Booker Prize, set in Lviv a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union. Through its characters and their stories, Kurkov paints a realistic yet humorous portrait of a city with a distinct cultural and linguistic identity.

During the meeting at COD, attended also by the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Blendi Gonxhja, the Ukrainian writer shared with the audience vignettes from Lviv and everyday life in Ukraine, speaking also about the role of literature in times of crisis and war.

“Of course, a writer’s responsibility becomes 100 times more visible and more important in times of crisis and especially in times of war,” Kurkov said.

The novel, described by The Guardian as “a love letter to Lviv, Ukraine’s cultural and linguistic city”, captures through humour and human stories a turbulent period in the country, making literature a way to preserve the memory, identity and voice of ordinary people.

Andrej Kurkov is the author of 19 novels, translated into many languages and read by international audiences. In Albania, his work has been brought into Albanian by translator Bujar Hudhri and the Onufri publishing house.