Svetlana Ischenko tackles the creative tension between her identity as a Ukrainian poet, with deeply Ukrainian sensibilities, and that of an immigrant poet enthused by her adopted country.

In Nucleus readers will see through a Ukrainian immigrant's eyes as she looks back at the land and traditions of her original country. This collection illuminates Ischenko's poetic transformation, from a heroic crown of sonnets to freer, lyrical pieces, but all within the dynamic of Ukrainian and Canadian subject matter and sensibilities. A powerful collection, made even more profound in light of recent events in Ukraine.

Nucleus includes a fascinating introductory essay that explores the immigrant's translation of self in a new country.

Svetlana Ischenko is an award-winning poet, translator, former actress and teacher. She was born in Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, where she established herself as a stage actress and poet before immigrating to Canada in 2001. She is the author of several books and chapbooks of poetry, essays and dramatic plays in Ukrainian and English. In Canada, her poems have been published in The Antigonish Review and Event and were included in the anthology Che Wach Choe/Let the Delirium Begin (Leaf Press) and the chapbook In the Mornings I Find a Crane’s Feathers in my Damp Braids (Leaf Press). She lives with her family in North Vancouver, B.C.

Svetlana Ischenko's profile page

Praise for Svetlana's previous work

"It is completely Ukrainian, yet Svetlana Ischenko's poetry is at the same time a global rather than a regional phenomenon. This is a truly talented poet who on earth can hear heavenly chorales and in heaven hear earthly rhythms and counterpoints of time." - Dmytro Kremin, Shevchenko National Prize poet, from his introduction to Svetlana Ischenko's Сі-дієз (B-Sharp)

"The folkloric component in Svetlana Ischenko's poetry along with its intellectual energy and awareness of the realities of contemporary life in Ukraine and beyond - this allows her work to be a document of national culture and an artifact of world art." - Vladlena Russova, V.O.Sukhomlynsky Mykolaiv State University Bulletin