About the event

Book launch: Dzwinka Matijasz, “Mam na imię Warwara” (translated from Ukrainian by Andrij Saveneć). The event will feature: Dzwinka Matijasz – author, Andrij Saveneć – translator, Łukasz Kaczyński – moderator.

About the book “Mam na imię Warwara”

Warwara is twelve years old, lives in Kyiv, loves Sherlock Holmes, and… is just discovering that her own name hides a secret. One school presentation is enough for an ordinary day to become the beginning of a personal investigation: who was Saint Barbara, why does “barbarian” not necessarily mean a savage, and what did her parents really want to say by giving their daughter this name?

This is a humorous and insightful story about growing up, friendship, family secrets, and discovering one’s own identity. A book that draws you in like a mystery and shows that sometimes the most important questions begin with a single, seemingly innocent word.

This book was published as part of the Literary Eastern Express project, implemented with the support of the European Union under the Creative Europe programme.

About the participants

Dzwinka Matijasz (born in 1978 in Kyiv) – Ukrainian writer and translator. She was born in Kyiv. She graduated with a master’s degree from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and completed doctoral studies at the European College of Polish and Ukrainian Universities in Lublin. Author of 13 books for children and adults, as well as one poetry book, “Berehynia i pilot Roger”. Her book “Droga świętego Jakuba”, about a pilgrimage on foot across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, has changed the lives of many people. Her young adult book “Mam na imię Warwara” was included in the international catalogue of children’s and young adult literature White Ravens 2022. A Lithuanian translation was published in 2025. Her book “Powieść o ojczyźnie”, translated by Bohdan Zadura, was published in Poland by Biuro Literackie (2014). Some of her works have been translated into Polish, French, German, Italian, Serbian, and Belarusian. She has translated from Polish, among others, poetry by Rev. Jan Twardowski, reportage by Ryszard Kapuściński, and books for young readers by Dorota Terakowska and Agnieszka Mielech.

Andrij Saveneć (born in 1977 in Kornyn, Ukraine) – translator and translation scholar. Graduate of the Ivan Franko Zhytomyr State University and the European College of Polish and Ukrainian Universities. He received his PhD at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, where he also taught. Author of the monograph “Poezja w przekładzie: „ukraińska” Szymborska” (2006) and numerous articles on translation studies. His Ukrainian translations include, among others, novels by Ernest Hemingway and Salman Rushdie, as well as three selections of poems by Wisława Szymborska. He is the author of the selection and translator of the Polish-Ukrainian poetry anthology “Lublin z dala, Lublin z bliska” (2017). His Polish translations include, among others, Jurko Gudz’s poem “Barykady na Krzyżu” (2014), a selection of Mykola Riabchuk’s essays “Poprzednie życie” (2018), and the long-form conversation “Worochtarium” by Yurii Andrukhovych, Oleksandr Boichenko, and Orest Drul (2019). Co-editor of the Literary Eastern Express publishing series.

Łukasz Kaczyński – works at the Tuvim Library, a branch of the Municipal Library in Łódź, where since March 2022 he has been responsible, among other things, for cooperation with the Ukrainian community in the city and for organizing and co-organizing events related to Ukraine. He publishes in “Dziennik Literacki”, “Kultura Enter”, and the portal “Miej Miejsce”. In May this year, he received recognition in the “Siła Solidarności: 50 Przyjaciół Ukrainy” poll organized by the Stand With Ukraine Foundation.

Details

When: July 3, Friday, 16:00-17:00
Where: Workshops of Culture, Grodzka 7 – patio
Free admission