Excited to announce that the ekphrastic collection SHATTERED: Artists Inspired by Artists has been published by New Meridian Arts just in time for the holidays! I edited this book together with Oana Maria Cajal, Ioana Ieronim, Cristina A. Bejan, and Ruth Margraff. It was a long journey, but we are so proud to share this book with you and the world.
SHATTERED is a gorgeous, full color book with 160+ pages of art and poetry that would make a great gift for the poetry lover on your list, or for anyone supporting Ukraine and protesting all wars.
The SHATTERED project is the brainchild of Romanian-Canadian visual artist Oana Maria Cajal, a complex international collaboration in protest of Russia’s war in Ukraine and against all wars. Since 2022, this ongoing project has materialized into a series of multimedia events, including exhibitions, performances, and videos.
SHATTERED: Artists Inspired by Artists reunites Oana Maria Cajal’s picto-impulses and the poems they inspired, written by women from Ukraine, Romania, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The women poets and translators featured in SHATTERED: Artists Inspired by Artists are household names of their native and adoptive countries, including Ana Blandiana, Cristina A. Bejan, Natalka Bilotserkivets, Magda Cârneci, Adina Dabija, Carmen Firan, Catalina Florescu, Ioana Ieronim, Nora Iuga, Olena Jennings, Lyudmyla Khersonska, Ali Kinsella, Iya Kiva, Nina Kossman, Oksana Maksymchuk, Ruth Margraff, Mihaela Moscaliuc, Dzvinia Orlowsky, Ksenia Rychtycka, Author, Claudia Serea, Adela Sinclair, Sylvie Simmons, Vera Slywynsky-Sirota, Lesya Ukrainka, Lyuba Yakimchuk, and Katherine Young, among others.
Many thanks to Oana Maria Cajal for the powerful, inspiring visuals and concept of this project; to my fellow editors for all the work that went into this collection (and, really, the sisterhood we developed over the years), to all the women poets and translators for all their exquisite contributions, and to New Meridian Arts for giving our book a great home.
And last but not least, thank you so much to all who supported our project since the very beginning: the Ukrainian Institute of America President, Kathy L. Nalywajko, the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York / ICR New York Director, Dorian Branea, Daciana Branea, writers Ilya Kaminsky, Norman Manea, and Andrei Codrescu, director Andrei Șerban, editor Carmen Musat, the late Romanian-born French theater and art critic and professor at Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris 3, Georges Banu (1943-2023), and by Simona Miculescu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Delegate of Romania to UNESCO.
Stay tuned for news about the formal launch and events in early 2025. But in the meantime, check out this beauty!!