Ukraine Honours Ontario Author: “Totally Boggled”

Posted By Elizabeth Yates at the Brantford Expositor

Local [Brantford] children’s author Marsha Skrypuch - who crafts award-winning fiction based on historic atrocities - will receive a state award from Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko. She has been selected for the Order of Princess Olha, Class III: the highest form of honour the country bestows on foreign [women] citizens.

The recognition is unexpected and exciting, said Skrypuch, who heard the news late last January.

“I’m just totally boggled about this: I’m thrilled.”

The medal recognizes her works about the 1932-1933 Ukrainian Famine, which killed up to 10 million people. The award comes as the country commemorates the 75th Anniversary of what Ukrainians call the Holodomor - meaning death by hunger.

In 2000, Skrypuch wrote a children’s folktale called Enough, describing a young girl’s attempts to save her village from starvation. The famine inspired her story, The Rings, in a 2006 anthology of Ukrainian-Canadian writings, called Kobzar’s Children, which she also edited.

Skrypuch was recommended for the Order of Princess Olha by the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa.

“We’re aware of her work and we decided we needed to draw attention to it in Ukraine,” said Olena Zakharova, the Embassy’s Second Secretary. Ideally, Skrypuch’s books will end up published in Ukraine, she said.

Meantime, the author’s admirers are working to ensure children in Ukraine can read Enough.

The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain is working to distribute 20,000 to 30,000 copies of the picture book - illustrated by Ukrainian-Canadian Michael Martchenko - to students throughout the country.

Teachers in Ukraine have praised Enough as a godsend, saying it’s an ideal teaching tool, said Volodymyr Muzyczka, director of the British association, who met Skrypuch in Montreal last year at the Annual Meeting of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Once she gave him a copy of Enough, “I realized how important it was to make this book available to children in Ukraine” [said Muzyczka].

It’s vital for children to learn about their past so they can avoid future tragedies, agreed Lubomyr Luciuk, Chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association in Canada, which is helping fund the project. “Enough is a remarkable work, as it gently introduces children to a horror that none of us can ever fully appreciate, yet manages to convey a sense of that catastrophe by telling a simple tale.”

There’s no date for distribution yet, but sponsors are coming on board and copyright permission is expected soon, said Muzyczka.

Both leaders are pleased by Skrypuch’s recognition from the President of Ukraine, lauding her ability to explore tough issues in a sensitive and accessible manner. “It takes verve and great fortitude to take on such themes,” said Luciuk. The award celebrates the importance of “struggling to represent the truth, despite the odds against doing so.”

Being honoured for Enough is particularly welcome, said Skrypuch, noting the book had spurred death threats and hatemail as recently as 2006 “Isn’t it ironic that a Canadian children’s author ends up educating people about their own famine?” she muses, noting that the Holodomor was never even acknowledged until after the fall of the Soviet Union. Yushchenko has been the first President to officially recognize the tragedy.

The state awards aren’t given every year in Canada, said Zakharova, but there are two other recipients for 2008: Peter Potichnyj, professor emeritus of political science at McMaster University, and Peter Kule, who has donated millions to fund Ukrainian Canadian [Studies and folklore] cultural centre at the University of Alberta. “I’m in good company,” said Skrypuch, noting that Potichnyj - who is being recognized for his work on the insurgent army of Ukraine [UPA] - was a great help while she was researching her 2001 young adult novel, Hope’s War. “I really admire him.”

While the Order of Princess Olha is for women, the two male recipients will receive Orders of Merit. Once the Embassy has the medals on hand, the recipients will be contacted to arrange a presentation, said Zakharova. Whenever the date is set, Skrypuch stands ready to pin the lovely, purple-and-silvery badge - accented by four amethysts - on her lapel. “I’ve already bought a jacket for it.”