New German-Language Anthology Published: “Ukrainian Horizons – Contemporary Drama in Focus”
“Ukrainian Horizons – Contemporary Drama in Focus” is a new anthology of contemporary Ukrainian drama. Featuring plays from 2020 to 2024 translated into German by Lydia Nagel, the volume offers insight into a literary present shaped by the pandemic, social uncertainty and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. For the first time, these voices are being made accessible to a German-speaking audience.
About the publication
The anthology brings together 21 theater plays by 17 Ukrainian authors. The texts address themes including war and memory, the body and vulnerability, sexuality and identity, flight and migration, mental health and isolation, as well as social and familial upheaval. Together, they reveal the thematic and formal breadth of contemporary Ukrainian drama.
Origins
The publication grew out of transmission.ua: drama on the move, a programme initiated by the Ukrainian Institute that, between 2020 and 2022, worked to increase the international visibility of contemporary Ukrainian drama through competitions, translations and theatre partnerships. From 69 submissions, six winning plays were selected for translation into German. The publication, originally planned for 2022, was interrupted and postponed by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This delay has also changed the significance of the volume. What was initially conceived as a presentation of contemporary Ukrainian drama now also appears as a kind of time capsule. The anthology preserves texts written on the eve of an existential war and brings them together with voices responding directly to the reality of full-scale war.
Expansion
Following the start of the full-scale invasion, the anthology was expanded to include the project No Cherry Orchard. This collection comprises 15 short texts written in spring 2022, each responding directly to war, destruction and the loss of security. Each text is named after a tree that is also used as the designation for a Russian weapons system. The title refers to Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, while shifting that reference into a contemporary, anti-colonial perspective.
The book documents a theatre landscape that continues to write, speak and perform despite war and displacement. It stands for the power of drama at a time when cultural visibility is a form of resistance.
Availability and orders
The German-language anthology will be available through online booksellers from May 1, 2026. It is already available from Thelem University Press.
Partners
The anthology was published by the Ukrainian Institute in Kyiv and its Germany office. It was produced in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, Schauspiel Stuttgart and the Theatre of Playwrights in Kyiv.