Factors and actors in the (non)reception of Ukrainian literature in France
This scientific event is organized as part of Voyage en Ukraine, the Season of Ukraine in France.
Argument of the scientific event
In a context of rediscovery and geopolitical repositioning of Ukraine, this symposium proposes to analyze the multiple causes and complex mechanisms of the low visibility of Ukrainian literature in the French literary and publishing space, while highlighting positive initiatives to promote Ukrainian works in the French language.
Provisional program of the scientific event
Monday, March 30, 2026
URR Lettres slaves
108, boulevard Malesherbes - Paris 17e
- 5:30pm-7pm: Literary and artistic performance followed by discussion
- Yaryna TARASYUK, Sofiya VARETSKA and Svitlana MACENKA (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine): Intermedium Cassandre (based on the play by Lessia Oukraïnka)
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Inalco - Maison de la Recherche
Auditorium Dumézil
2, rue de Lille - Paris 7e
- 8:30am-9am: Welcome of participants.es
- 9am-9:30am : Inauguration
- 9:30am : Plenary conference
- Moderation: Clara ROYER - Histoire(s) et acteurs des réceptions : regards croisés
- 10am-10:20am : Nikol DZIUB (Post-doctoral fellow, translator (Switzerland)): Why France couldn't defend and illustrate Ukrainian literature: the comparative point of view of Mykhaïlo Drahomanov (1841-1895)
- 10:20am-10:40am: Johanne LE RAY (Université Paris Cité): Les Cavaliers, by Iouri Ianovski, edited by Aragon in 1957: between promotion of "Soviet literatures", recognition of Ukrainian identity and defense and illustration of an ethics of translation
- 10:40-11am: Konrad KROL (Université Paris Cité, Jean-Paul II Catholic University of Lublin): Faire entendre l'Ukraine par la traduction. "Voices from Ukraine in Exile", a publication of the Association Institut Littéraire "Kultura" (founded 1947)
- 11am-11:20am: Discussion
- 11h20-11h40: Coffee Break
- Moderation: Yves CHEVREL - Transgeneric mediations in action
- 11h40-12h: Svitlana MAСENKA, Yaryna TARASYUK and Sofiya VARETSKA (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine): From text to literary performance: intermediality as a means of reception of a classic work of Ukrainian literature in the European cultural space (the example of Lessia Oukraїnka's Cassandre, 1907)
- 12h-12h20: Delphine RUMEAU (Université Grenoble Alpes): La révolution tranquille: aller simple entre la poésie québécoise et la poésie ukrainienne?
- 12h20-12h40: Elisabeth KYRIAKOU (Sorbonne Université, Paris): Translations, adaptations and stage readings: circulation of contemporary Ukrainian dramaturgies in the francophone space
- 12h40-13h: Discussion
- 13h-14h: Lunch
- Moderation: Boris CZERNY - Forms, formats and factors of publication and dissemination
- 14h-14h20: Dmytro CHYSTIAK (en visio) (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine)): Anthologies of Ukrainian poetry in French: heritage, problems and perspectives
- 14h20-14h40: Yarema KRAVETS (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine)): Role of Soviet Ukrainian editions "Dnipro" in the translation of Ukrainian literature into French
- 14h40-15h: Galyna DRANENKO (Sorbonne University, Paris): Editorial peritext and epitext of publications of Vassyl Stous's poetic works in French
- 15h-15h20: Discussion
- 15h20-15h40: Coffee Break
- Moderation: Nadège RADARU - Publics d'une littérature invisibilisée
- 15h40-16h: Kateryna TARASIUK (Université de Strasbourg): Why don't we read Ukrainian literature? Enquête sur une réception entravée au sein du milieu académique slavisant francophone
- 16h-16h20: Nataliia BORYSHKEVYCH (Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris): Réflexion sur la traduction littéraire de l'ukrainien vers le français: enjeux de la production et de la réception
- 16h20-16h40: Christian JACQUES (Université de Strasbourg): La diffusion du livre ukrainien à Strasbourg et depuis Strasbourg : enjeux et stratégies
- 16h40-17h : Discussion
- 17h-17h30 : Pause-Café
- 17h30-18h30 : Table ronde " Éditer la littérature ukrainienne en français : défis, expériences, avenir"
- Moderation: Iryna DMYTRYCHYN and Galyna DRANENKO
Wednesday 1er April 2026
Institut d'études slaves, Eur'ORBEM, Sorbonne Université
9, rue Michelet - Paris 6e
- 9:30 am : Plenary lecture: Iryna DMYTRYCHYN (Inalco, Ukrainian Institute in France, Paris)
- Moderation: Maougocha GOLDBERG - Translating war
- 10-10:20am : Svitlana NAMESTIUK (University of Strasbourg, Bucovina State Medical University, Chernivtsi (Ukraine): The role of translation in the transnational visibility of Ukrainian literature on the Donbass
- 10:20-10:40am : Esther SASSIER (Université Toulouse-Jean Jaurès): The war in Ukraine: a springboard for the dissemination of Yuri Andrukhovych's work in France?
- 10:40-11am: Valeriia KOVALENKO (Inalco, Paris): From non-reception to deferred visibility: women's writings of war in Ukraine (2022-)
- 11-11:20am: Tetiana KATCHANOVSKA (French Institute in Ukraine, Kyïv (Ukraine)): Ukrainian poetry put to the test of reception in the Francophone space: traductological and translatorial perspectives
- 11:20-11:40am: Discussion
- 11:40am-12hpm: Places and objects of discussion
Exhibition of Bulac's holdings of Ukrainian literature in French. Visit to the Institute of Slavic Studies and presentation of its holdings.
Presentation:Iryna SOBCHENKO and Nathalie LEREBOUILLET
- 12pm-1pm: Lunch
- Moderation: Clarisse BROSSARD - Stratégies de la traduction de l'ukrainien en français
- 1-1:20pm: Olena STEFURAK and Yuliia SAK (Chernivtsi National University (Ukraine): Translating the unrepresentable: Lexical challenges and political pressures in the translation of Vassyl Barka's Yellow Prince into French ([1963] 1981)
- 1:20-1:40pm: Iryna RYMYAK (Sorbonne University, Paris): Transliteration norms and the use of exonyms in the translation of Ukrainian toponyms into French: the case of Kiev / Kyiv
- 1:40-2pm : Olha ARTYUSHKINA (Sorbonne Université, Paris) : Multilingual writing in the service of humor. Challenge(s)
of translation
- 2-2:20pm : Discussion
- 2:20-2:40pm : Coffee Break
- Moderation : Training Ukrainian-French smugglers
- 2:40-3pm : Olena POLOVYNKO (Université Clermont Auvergne): Classical literary texts in language methods: can a cultural and heritage element be adapted for pedagogical purposes? (Ukrainian language as foreign)
- 3-3:20pm: Iryna SOBCHENKO (BULAC, Paris): Forming an invisible canon: the course of Élie Borschak (1892-1959) as a device for teaching Ukrainian letters in France
- 3:20-3:30pm: Discussion
- 3:30-4:30 pm: Presentation of recent translated works
- 4:30-5 pm: Colloquium wrap-up
- 5-6 pm: Translation workshop for students and PhD students
Thursday, April 2, 2026
URR Lettres slaves
108, boulevard Malesherbes - Paris 17e
- Ouverture post-colloque intended for students from URF Études slaves, Inalco and Ukrainian universities (in visio) and PhD students from EurORBEM and CREE
- 12pm-1:30pm : Lecture
- Olena STEFURAK (Chernivtsi, Ukraine): Apports, limits and drifts of AI in the dissemination of Ukrainian literature
- 1:30-3pm: Lecture followed by a translation exercise
- Svitlana NAMESTIUK (Strasbourg/Tchernivtsi, Ukraine): Translation of the poetry of Serhii Jadan
Organization
- Galyna DRANENKO (Eur'ORBEM, Sorbonne University; Department of French Philology and Translation, Chernivtsi National University)
- Iryna DMYTRYCHYN (CREE, Inalco; Ukrainian Institute in France)
- Olena STEFURAK (Department of French Philology and Translation, Chernivtsi National University)