“I always lived in a multilingual society (Polish-Ukrainian, German-Ukrainian, English-Ukrainian), and was open to outside linguistic influences. I think it was within three years of coming to the US that I started writing in English, although purely for myself, not trying to get it published. Living in America, I was constantly in touch with English, and Ukrainian was for me a private language.” ThinkingWritingTryingYearsAmericaThreeLanguageInfluenceThree YearsPolishUkrainian Author:Yuriy Tarnawsky
“I was always creatively stubborn, adverse to editing by others, and wanted to use the kind of Ukrainian we spoke among ourselves rather than the more artificial prescribed literary Ukrainian. The problem was the greatest in prose, where editors would change my language because "it sounded better this way." My poetry they left alone probably out of deference to that hallowed genre.” WayKindUseProblemWantedLeftLanguageGenreProseSpokesEditorsArtificialEditingStubbornLeft AloneAdverseUkrainianDeference Author:Yuriy Tarnawsky
“I've done a lot of going back and forth with my own writing, in particular translating my English language stuff into Ukrainian - poetry as well as prose. But I actually hate doing it. It is a thankless, mind-numbing process, additionally unpleasant for me because it reminds me of my ambiguous status of not belonging anywhere.” WritingMindWellsDoneHateLanguageStuffProcessMy OwnParticularProseBelongingTranslateEnglish LanguageBack And ForthAmbiguousUkrainianNumbingThanklessNot Belonging Author:Yuriy Tarnawsky