Glagoslav Publications has presented a five-language edition of Alexander Korotko’s poem “Stus” — a work dedicated to Vasyl Stus, the Ukrainian poet, dissident, and one of the key symbols of spiritual resistance to the Soviet totalitarian system.
Vasyl Stus spent years in Soviet labor camps for his poetry. The Ukrainian diaspora sought to nominate him for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but in 1985 he died in a camp in Perm before the process could be completed.
Alexander Korotko’s poem “Stus” turns to this fate and renders it through poetic visions — not as a documentary account, but rather as a space of memory and resistance. The poem moves through the inner world of a man who chose spiritual integrity over physical survival.
This five-language edition brings together the original Russian text and its translations into Ukrainian, English, German, and Polish. The Ukrainian translation was made by Olha Ilchuk, the English by Michael Pursglove, the German by Alois Woldan, and the Polish by Anna Bednarczyk. All four translators have deep backgrounds in Slavic literary scholarship.
Alexander Korotko’s previous books published by Glagoslav — War Poems in 2022 and Bera and Cucumber in 2023 — demonstrated the range of his poetic voice in reflecting on the Ukrainian experience. The poem “Stus” is more personal and more demanding.
Max Mendor, CDO and Co-publisher of Glagoslav Publications, played a special role in the creation of this edition. In a letter to Alexander Korotko, he congratulated the author on the publication of “Stus” and noted that he was pleased to have personally worked on this book — its layout, illustrations, and the portrait of Vasyl Stus.
According to Max Mendor, the book went through many rounds of editing and revision, so seeing it completed was especially satisfying for him. He also emphasized that he had been pleased to work on Alexander Korotko’s previous publications and on the design of their covers.
The book is now available for order on the Glagoslav Publications website:
https://glagoslav.com/product/stus-a-narrative-poem-by-alexander-korotko/
Soon, the edition will also be available from major online book retailers.
Information about the book is also available in the “Books” section of Alexander Korotko’s official website:
https://korotko-poetry.com/category/tvori/ua-knigi