CFUS Luckyj Translation Prize awarded to Franko and Morris
By Olena Wawryshyn
Translators of fiction, by the nature of their work, rarely see
the limelight. Thus, it was truly pleasing to see two exceptional literary
translators receive the attention that is their due at the first Toronto
Ukrainian National Federation Library Dinner, which took place at the UNF
Trident Hall on June 3. During the event, sisters Roma Franko and the late
Sonia Morris (ne Stratychuk) were awarded the inaugural George S. N.
Luckyj Ukrainian Literature Translation Prize by the Canadian Foundation for
Ukrainian Studies (CFUS) for their efforts and achievements in translating
Ukrainian literature into English.
The award is named in honour of the late former
In 1996, Franko, a former head of the Department
of Slavic Studies, and of the Department of Modern Languages, at the University
of Saskatchewan and Morris, who also held U of S positions, including Head of
the Department of Educational Psychology and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate
Programs, founded Language Lantern Publications, a publishing company focusing
on English translations of Ukrainian literature. To date, they have published, using
their own funds, 17 volumes translated by Franko and edited by Morris, who
passed away in 2007. A further three
volumes are in preparation.
Their publications include the six-volume series Women’s
Voices in Ukrainian Literature, a four-volume series of short stories by male writers, four
volumes dedicated to Ivan Franko’s works, and other volumes of work featuring a
children’s tale by Yaroslav Stelmakh, stories by Anatoliy Dimarov and about the
Holodomor. In addition, they have
donated copies of all of their books to more than 150 universities, some 80
public libraries, and over 60 institutions and organizations in
“No one, ever, anywhere, has done a much as these
two women to advance the cause of translating Ukrainian literature,” said
Professor Maxim Tarnawsky, of U of T’s Department of Slavic Languages and
Literature.
Tarnawsky, who was on the award selection
committee, recognized Franko’s and Morris’ outstanding achievements and
substantial contribution in terms of quantity of output. “But the singular accomplishment of Roma
Franko and Sonia Morris does not end with the mere translating of these works,
they published them,” he said. “Roma and Sonia saw the importance of literary
translations and did something about it with their own skill, energy, and
money, too.”
“Another important factor in the awarding of the
Luckyj Prize to Roma and Sonia concerns the particulars of selecting material
for translation,” he said. Their
translations “are aimed at expanding the repertoire of available translations,
at introducing new possibilities in the teaching of Ukrainian literature.” They
consciously chose the “B” list of Ukrainian literature, said Tarnawsky, giving
Libuov Ianovs’ka, Hrytsk’ko Hryhorenko and Ievehenia Iroshynsk’ka as
examples. “The B-list is not inferior,
literature, he said, “it’s just less well known.” “Roma’s and Sonia’s books enable a whole
range of new courses at universities, a whole range of new research for
scholars who are looking at Ukrainian literature from a non-specialist’s
perspective, a whole new dimension for readers who want to explore something
that’s a little off the beaten path.”
“Many Canadians have at least heard about our
three Ukrainian literary greats, Shevchenko, Ukrainka and Franko,” said Franko
after being called to speak. “But Sonia and I wanted to acquaint Anglophone
readers with the many other talented authors in Ukrainian literature. We
Ukrainians are well-known for the more visible components of our culture such
as our masterful dancing and our beautiful pysanky, but our rich culture has so
much more to offer,” she said.
Franko said she made her first forays into
translating literature in the 1980s when she was introducing Ukrainian
literature in translation classes at U of S and she became increasingly aware
of the dearth of translations of Ukrainian literature. “Encouraged by the positive feedback from my
students, Sonia and I chose to take early retirement and indulge our love of
literature, a love that had been inculcated in us from childhood by our
parents.” When the lonely and exacting
task of translating seemed daunting, Franko said her sister would hearten her
by saying: “these translations will be
appreciated some day, maybe not in our lifetime. She would be absolutely
delighted to see her words come true,” said Franko.
She also stated that the themes of the translated
works reveal a wealth of information about the social outlooks and viewpoints
in which the writers wrote. “How
well-known is it that that Ukrainian female authors in the late nineteenth
century were ardent feminists whose views were often far more advanced than
those of their counterparts in Western European countries…or that male authors
of that same period were addressing issues of male-female relationships in all
their controversial aspects?” The themes of these writers’ stories make them
worthy of translation, “for the messages that they convey are universal and
transcend temporal geographical and linguistic boundaries,” she said.
Franko, on behalf of her late sister and herself
thanked their families, her husband Stefan and her brother-in-law Barry and
their respective children for their support. She added that she was “especially
deeply touched that the award is named the George S.N. Luckyj award, for I was
fortunate enough to have taken graduate courses from him when I embarked on my
PhD studies.”
Franko also thanked the organizers of the dinner,
emcee Daria Diakowsky and the UNF Toronto Branch, Resource Centre committee,
who hosted the event, as well as the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies,
which is a national non-profit charitable organization dedicated to securing
funds to support the growth and development of Ukrainian studies in Canada and
elsewhere. It is governed by a board of directors drawn various regions of
At the dinner event, CFUS President Olya
Kuplowska delivered greetings and remarks on behalf of the Foundation and with
award selection committee members presented the award to Franko. Roman Senkus,
Secretary of CFUS, spoke about the life and contributions of Luckyj, calling
him “a pioneering figure in post-war Ukrainian and Slavic Studies in the
English-speaking world.” Senkus gave an
overview of the key highlights in Luckyj’s life, from his birth in 1919 in the
village of Yanchyn (now Ivanivka) in Peremyshliany county, Galicia to his
studies at the University of Berlin, Cambridge University, University of
Birmingham before serving in the British army to his career teaching English
literature at UofS, obtaining his doctorate at Columbia University and finally
his academic career at U of T, where he became a prolific translator of Ukrainian
monographs and literature.
The evening also included presentations by
several others speakers, including Ulana Plawuszczak, who delivered thoughts
about Dr. Franko’s translation work from the vantage point of a translator;
Andrij Makuch, research coordinator with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian
Studies’ Kule Ukrainian Canadian Studies Centre, who spoke about the academic
career of Roma Franko; Paul Cipywnyk, who provided a biography of his mother
Sonia Morris; and Franko’s granddaughter, Marika, who gave a presentation on
the life of the two sisters, from their early days growing up in Canora,
Saskatchewan, before moving to Saskatoon where they raised their families and
played actives roles in the Ukrainian-Canadian community.
In addition, the evening included readings of
excerpts from three of the translated works, read by Myroslav and Franko
Diakowsky and Natalia Obal, and a musical interlude, featuring a performance by
Franko’s granddaughters, Kalyna on cello, and Lara and Ivanna playing a violin
duo. The event concluded with an
opportunity to purchase copies of Franko’s and Morris’s books and to have them
signed by the translator.