Ukraine’s indomitable spirit was on full display over the weekend in Kharkiv, the nation’s second largest city, when the publication of a new book was presented in a bomb shelter amid interspersed Russian bombardment.
A Ukrainian translation of the New York Times bestseller “Go the F**k to Sleep” was presented by its translator, famed writer and Kharkiv native, Serhiy Zhadan.
Russian projectiles struck the area an hour before the event started past midnight, where the presentation was staged in an undisclosed bomb shelter in the city located just 40 kilometers from the Russian border that had a pre-war population of more than 1 million people,.
“We decided to go ahead anyway and [local] journalists showed up to cover the event,” said Halyna Padalko, communications director of the Vivat publishing house that owns the rights to the Ukrainian-language version of the book.
The book, written by U.S.-based writer Adam Mansbach and illustrated by Ricardo Cortes, became popular among parents for depicting the difficulties of putting toddlers to sleep despite lullabies, rhymes, and other methods to naturally induce snoozing.
It “challenges stereotypes, opens up prototypes, and acknowledges that shared sense of failure that comes to all parents who are weary of ever getting their darling(s) to sleep and briefly resuming the illusion of a life of their own,” a review on the website of bookstore Barnes & Noble says.
The book’s subject matter relates directly to Ukrainian children, Padalko said, because they experience “constant shelling, hear air raid sirens” in Kharkiv and have trouble falling asleep.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office says that 205 children have been killed, and 362 more were injured as of April 18 due to Russia’s renewed invasion.
On April 17 alone, Kharkiv region Governor Oleh Synehubov said that the city was shelled 23 times in the span of 24 hours, resulting in the deaths of five people and 20 suffering injuries.
The Ukrainian version of the book titled, “Go the F**k to Sleep.” (Vivat Publishing House)
Still, the book presentation went ahead, and Zhadan took the stage to speak about a song he wrote devoted to the book’s main premise with rock band Selo i Liudy (The Village and People).
The group’s front man, Oleksandr Honcharov, said that although “a child needs discipline and control –a child can be better-formed thanks to free upbringing,” regarding not falling asleep.
When reached by the Kyiv Post for comment, writer Zhadan asked to be called the following day for comment.
Noting the war-time setting of the book’s presentation taking in a bomb shelter, Zhadan said through a news release that “it is still our Ukrainian Kharkiv, and this our literary life.”
Having translated the book before Kremlin tyrant Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 of the neighboring country, Zahadan said the book was supposed to be published the same month.
Most of Ukraine’s biggest publishing houses like Vivat are based in Kharkiv.
“The text [of the book] is ironic and positive for those who have the ability to laugh at themselves and circumstances,” Zhadan said during the presentation.
Ukrainian writer and Kharkiv-native Serhiy Zhadan (microphone) speaks during a book presentation in Kharkiv on April 16 inside a bomb shelter. (Serhiy Bobok)
The event’s staging also meant to show the public that “culture is still developing in Ukraine…we are not scared and that everything will be okay,” Padalko of Vivat said.
“Go the F**k to Sleep” will be available in print in about a month, she said. Avenues for releasing it electronically are still being examined due to rampant piracy of copyright in the country, Padalko added.
“We want to portray normality here and show that [normal] life is still going on in Kharkiv,” she said.
Humanitarian efforts also continue despite indiscriminate Russian bombardment of civilian areas and infrastructure.
A kitchen feeding residents in the bombed-out city linked to celebrity chef José Andrés was destroyed by a Russian missile in Kharkiv on the same day of the book presentation.
The CEO of the Washington-based World Central Kitchen, Nate Mook, said on social media that four staff members had been wounded in the blast, the CNN reported.
“This is the reality here — cooking is a heroic act of bravery,” he said.
