on modern German-language poetry. The principal message is not casual as well: “To bring Chernivtsi back to the cultural map of Europe.” It was considered that the pre-war Chernivtsi was one of the biggest cultural centres in the continent because of the number of writers, musicians, artists, and scientists who lived and worked there. As a matter of fact, the town where outstanding writers had been born, where they had worked and created, found itself on the margins of cultural and artistic life in the second half of the 20th century. In just three years, Meridian Czernowitz has been able to improve the situation and to deserve the glory of the best organized and thought-out festival in Ukraine. It is not in vain that Ukrainian writers call it “German” between themselves: not because almost a half of the participants are German-speaking poets, but because of punctuality and attention to detail. After all, this is the only festival in Ukraine with a detailed program that can be seen on the website six months before the event starts. There are also some publishing projects associated with the festival and focused on publication of books by the most popular Ukrainian writers. I pay so much attention to the festival movement because it is just this movement that forms a response to the society’s request for quality and modern literature. The thing is that what can be called an “infrastructure” of literary life is absolutely – I do stress “absolutely” – absent in Ukraine. Libraries available in every town and village have not been turned into cultural or educational centres; they remain a kind of storehouses for old books (the state fails to buy new ones for them). Literary centers lacking, it is festivals that perform a very important function since it is just through them that readers in different corners of Ukraine can see and communicate with “living” writers. In Ukraine, the very notion of a fee paid to the writer for author’s readings or meetings with admirers is lacking; no funds for these expenses have ever been envisaged in the budgets of the state culture administrations or in the budget of the library system, as well as for such small but highly necessary things as travel costs, hotels, meals, etc. In other words, but for the festivals and presentation tours introducing new books, many people could never come to know that besides classical authors, there are also really living writers who create contemporary literature. I am joking, of course.
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andriy lyubka