IRYNA SHUVALOVA

Poet, academic and translator from Kyiv, currently based in Oslo. Iryna has given powerful voice to the experience of war in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, especially from the point of view of Ukrainians who find themselves in exile during this devastating period. She is the author of 5 award-winning volumes of poetry, including her latest collection Stoneorchardwoods (2020) and Pray to the Empty Wells (2019). In 2009, she co-edited the first anthology of queer writing in Ukraine. Her work has been translated into 25 languages and published internationally.

FEATURED BOOK: Pray to the Empty Wells. Tr. Olena Jennings, Lost Horse Press, 2024. Her first collection in English. Deeply rooted in Ukraine’s folk culture, her poetry re-mixes traditional spirituality with eroticism and an acute awareness of the natural environment.