Eulogy for a Dream: A Tribute to Victoria Amelina

Organized by Eastern Circles, the Ukrainian Institute in France, and PEN Ukraine, this event is hosted by Columbia Global Centers | Paris and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination.

This evening commemorates the late Victoria Amelina, a Ukrainian writer, human rights defender, and founder of the New York Literary Festival in the Donetsk region. Victoria had intended to spend this year in Paris as a Harriman Institute Displaced Artist resident at Reid Hall to complete her book, Looking at Women Looking at War: War and Justice Diary. Tragically, she died from injuries sustained in the Russian shelling of Kramatorsk on June 27, 2023.

Victoria’s friends and colleagues are gathering to honor her memory and lifelong dream of living and working in Paris. Participants include Volodymyr Yermolenko, Tetyana Ogarkova, Tetyana Teren, Sophia Chelyak, Irena Karpa, and Olha Sahaidak.

Program 

18h – 18h30 – Exhibit in honor of Victoria Amelina

18h30 – 19h40 – Introduction and discussion with Victoria’s friends and colleagues

Volodymyr Yermolenko, Tetyana Teren, Sophia Chelyak, Irena Karpa. Moderated by Tetyana Ogarkova

19h50 – 20h10 – Reading featuring five of Victoria Amelina’s poems

20h10 – 20h30 – Presentation of Looking at Women Looking at War: War and Justice Diary

With a screening of Victoria’s last public reading at the largest annual Ukrainian book festival, Book Arsenal, with Volodymyr Yermolenko.

20h30 – 21h00 – Musical tribute curated by Anna Stavychenko of the 1991 Project

• Valentyn Silvestrov, II Postlude for violin solo from Three Postludes, 1981/1982 [10’]

• Béla Bartók, Six duets for 2 violins from 44 Duets, Sz. 98, 1931 [12’]

• Zoltan Almashi, Duet №1 for two violins, 2016 [7’]

This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.