A Poet at War: The Experience of Ihor Mitrov

The Ukrainian poet Ihor Mitrov will show a short documentary film edited from fragments of the video diary he has been keeping since he began his service as a soldier. During his presentation, Mitrov will discuss coming of age, education, his political and aesthetic views, and his experiences in the military. He will also read from several of his new poems, translated into English, and take questions from the audience.

Ihor Mitrov is a Ukrainian poet, archaeologist, literary critic and soldier of the 95th separate air assault brigade. He has written two collections of poems, which have won the Smoloskyp and Hranoslov poetry prizes. Mitrov’s poems are characterized by a dense combination of the tragic and the comic, of intertextuality and erudition, and of ironic distance. Ihor’s works have been translated into several European languages.