The Inaugural Kobzar Literary Award

By Olena Wawryshyn

Outside, on the marquee of the former movie theatre refurbished as a swanky banquet hall, the “Kobzar Award” was emblazoned in lights.

Just past the entrance, as well-heeled Ukrainian-Canadian socialites and a smattering of cultural luminaries and politicians streamed in, the sounds of the bandura, played by Oleksandr and Yurij Petlura, greeted them.

Nearby, former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, an honourary patron of the award, chatted with the Kobzar Literary Award Program Director Christine Turkewych and Andrew Hladeshevsky, the President of the Shevchenko Foundation, the organization that established the award.

Upstairs in a jam-packed cocktail bar overlooking the main banquet hall dining area, guests mingled and enjoyed plentiful martinis and hors d’oeuvres.

Ms. Clarkson, having to leave early, briefly spoke to the crowd, mentioning her trip to Kyiv for the inauguration of President Yushchenko. Commenting on Ukrainians in Canada, she said “you are one of the great examples” of maintaining a link to ancestral roots and retaining the language of one’s homeland while finding a “rightful place in every possible way in Canada.”

She also congratulated the four Kobzar Award finalists: Lisa Grekul, (for the novel Kalyna’s Song), Laura, Langston (for the novel Lesia’s Dream); Danny Schur (for his musical Strike! about the Winnipeg General Strike) and Larry Warwaruk (for the novel Andrei and the Snow Walker).

Guests were then ushered downstairs to the dining area, where spectacular, glowing book-themed centerpieces graced each table.

The emcees were actress Joan Karesevich and her husband fellow actor August Schellenberg, most recently seen in the film The New World and the CBS mini-series Dreamkeeper. Joining them as hosts were Gemini Award-winning

actor Lubomir Mykytiuk, of North of 60 television fame, and actor Fred Keating, best known for his role on CBC’s Da Vinci’s Inquest television program.

Elements of the official proceedings took place at intervals, between the courses of the superb meal. At $250 per plate, one would expect the guests to be well fed, Keating humourously quipped from the stage, though proceeds from the tickets are going to support the biennial awards and an ambitious complementary program that will include writers’ workshops across the country.

Excerpts from this year’s nominated works were read by Keating and the other actors, and a video clip of Strike! was shown.

The highlight of the evening was, of course, the announcement of the winners of the first Kobzar Literary Awards. Stakes were high as the award carries a $25,000 prize.

Sustained applause greeted the news that Laura Langston and Danny Schur were co-recipients. The Shevchenko Foundation’s President Andrew Hladyshevsky, along with the Honourable Senator Raynell Andreychuk, presented the awards to them.

“This was a singular moment in the Ukrainian community,” said Ms. Andreychuk commenting on the event. “We have come of age, and have shown ourselves to be part of the Canadian fabric,” she added.

Langston’s and Schur’s works were selected by jurors writer Myrna Kostash, actor/director Mieko Ouchi, CBC broadcaster Bill Richardson, and journalist/novelist Antanas Sileika of the Humber School of Writers. The winning works were deemed by the jury as outstanding contributions to the Canadian literary arts. One of the main award criteria is that the works must present a Ukrainian-Canadian theme.

In her acceptance speech, Langston, from Victoria, British Columbia, said: “when I was in the process of writing this book, I had a number of people say to me that I was crazy-that a dark, depressing story of Ukrainian internment would never sell...but they were wrong.”

Langston thanked Harper Collins for publishing Lesia’s Dream and her editor Lynne Missen. She also thanked the Ukrainian community for establishing the award and making “a large and very significant contribution to the literary community.”

“My husband’s grandparents emigrated from Ukraine…They were not interned, but many other people were not so lucky. And when I heard about that incident in Canadian history that had really not been written about that much in the past at all, I felt it was incredibly important to write about that,” she said.

“Most of all, I wrote the book to celebrate our ancestors…those people who cleared the soil and sweated and did things in our country so that we can enjoy the lives that we enjoy today,” she added.

Winnipeg-based Schur in his speech also noted that people had discouraged him from exploring the subject matter of Strike! “People often asked me,” said Schur, “‘why on God’s earth would you want to write a musical about the 1919 [Winnipeg] General Strike.?’”

The composer, who broke down in tears, acknowledged his parents and sister who flew in for the event. Schur thanked the Shevchenko Foundation for being “the single arts granting agency that has supported my career since 1987,” and singled out his wife for her support.

“Imagine if your spouse came to you and said, ‘I’d like to mortgage everything we own to put on a musical.’ She’s my greatest supporter…She would probably have been better off marrying a priest. I am blessed to have her,” he joked.

Among the many prominent individuals seen at the event were newly elected Toronto MP Peggy Nash, recently re-elected MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, His Eminence Bishop Jurij, Jim Temerty, Chair of the ROM Foundation Board of Directors, and Ihor Lossovskyi, Consul General of Ukraine in Toronto.

At evening’s end, Hladyshevsky announced that Winnipeg philanthropist Anne Smigel had made the first donation, in the sum of $25,000, to the award’s endowment fund.

The entire affair – from the program booklets to the stage management – was at a very high level.  Many professionals donated their time and efforts to make the event such a significant one.

Hats go off to the hard-working organizing committee co-chaired by Daria Diakowsky, Valentina Kuryliw, Alla Shklar and Marika Szkambara, the advisory committee, the close to 25 committee members, the corporate sponsors, and donors. And, bravo to the Shevchenko Foundation’s Board of Directors for their vision.

The Shevchenko Foundation’s Kobzar Literary Awards took place the same week as the Academy Awards.  Who needs the Oscars, when we’ve got the Kobzars? The latter was a better show by far.