News

From Our Writers

Reproductive Freedoms: Hiding Behind States' Rights

By Peter Balakian
Arrowsmith Journal, Volume 28
October 29, 2024

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When Clay Speaks: A Poem

By Robin Davidson
Arrowsmith Journal, Volume 28
October 29, 2024

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Selected Works from Young Writers for Democratic Action

By Bella Rotker
Arrowsmith Journal, Volume 28
October 29, 2024

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We Must Insist That Out of the 7 October Tragedy Must Come Lasting Peace

By Jo-Ann Mort
The Guardian
October 7, 2024

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War Stays for Dinner (Introduction to a Special Issue of Irish Pages)

By Askold Melnyczuk
Eurozine
September 16, 2024

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Remembering Paul Auster

With Tributes By
Siri Hustvedt, Asti Hustvedt, Carolyn Forché, Mitchell Kaplan, Don DeLillo, J.M. Coetzee, et al.
Literary Hub
May 28, 2024

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A Mouthful of Air: The Power of Poetry in a Time of War

By Askold Melnyczuk
CHYTOMO
May 14, 2024

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Don't think fascism could happen here? You haven't tracked the school book bans.

By Jacki Lyden, Barry Wightman, and John Norcross.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
May 9, 2024

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Remembering Paul Auster through his time as an NPR contributor

By Jacki Lyden
NPR Weekend Edition (Saturday)
May 4, 2024

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Congressional Hearings Are a Pretext for an Assault on Higher Education

By Peter Balakian and Cathy Caruth
Consequence
January 29, 2024

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Jill McCorkle Is Getting Over Her ‘Henry James Phobia': An Interview

On the Publication of OLD CRIMES by Jill McCorkle
By the Book — The New York Times
January 5, 2024

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A Review of ABSOLUTE ANIMAL, poems by Rachel DeWoskin

By Raisa Tolchinsky
Arrowsmith Journal
December 2023

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The Death of a Mouse and the Fall of Rome

By Askold Melnyczuk
Arrowsmith Journal
December 2023

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A Poetry Reading in Diyarbakir

By Peter Balakian
AGNI 98
Fall 2023

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The War in Ukraine: A Conversation with Askold Melnyczuk, Héctor Abad Faciolince, Carolyn Forché, Christopher Merrill, and Oksana Lutsyshyna

Miami Book Fair Online
November 21, 2023

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Tell Me Something Good

By Jacki Lyden
Arrowsmith Journal, Volume 23
May 23, 2023

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Lines from the Front: Carolyn Forché on a wartime anthology of Ukrainian Poetry

The American Scholar – Stephanie Bastek
May 19, 2023

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A Profusion of Poets

The New York Review of Books – Ariel Dorfman
May 11, 2023

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The poetic governance of Chile’s firebrand president, A Perspective.

The Washington Post – Ariel Dorfman
April 27, 2023

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Indicted!

By Nancy L. Rosenblum
Senator Joseph Clark Research Professor Emerita of Ethics in Politics and Government
Harvard University

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A Review of Julia Cimafiejeva’s Motherfield, poems translated from the Belarusian by Valzhyna Mort & Hanif Abdurraqib

By Robin Davidson
Arrowsmith Journal, Volume 22
February 2023

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A Moment That Changed Me: Ariel Dorfman on a night in a police cell that gave him hope.

By Ariel Dorfman
The Guardian

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Denial, Lies, & Fear: Democracy in Jeopardy

By Peter Balakian
Arrowsmith Press Journal

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Auden’s foreboding poem ‘September 1, 1939,’ captures today’s mood, too

Peter Balakian on Auden and Ukraine in The Washington Post

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Chile’s Battle for Memory: A Report from the Latest Front

By Ariel Dorfman
The Nation

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Who Poisoned Pablo Neruda?

By Ariel Dorfman
The Atlantic

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In Memory of a Poet: Carolyn Forché Remembers Charles Simic

By Carolyn Forché
Literary Hub

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In the Hour of War: Carolyn Forché and Ilya Kaminsky on Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry

Literary Hub

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With the nationalists in power, Israel needs a Jewish-Arab alliance

By Jo-Ann Mort
The Washington Post

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Askold Melnyczuk: I Was a Pacificist—And Then They Came to Kill My Family

By Askold Melnyczuk
The First Person

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Paul Auster: Why Is America the Most Violent Country in the Western World? On the Normalization of Gun Culture in the United States

By Paul Auster
Literary Hub

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Arrowsmith Journal

Volume XXI
Featuring work from national committee members Rachel DeWoskin and Jill McCorkle

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Translation

By Carolyn Forché
The Yale Review
December 6, 2022

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The Rest of the Story

By Carolyn Forché
The Yale Review
December 6, 2022

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Salvador Allende Still Speaks to Us Today

Chilean President Gabriel Boric and Spanish Prime Minster Pedro Sanchez both find themselves besieged by a virulent resurgence of the same right-wing movements that demolished democracy in Chile.
By Ariel Dorfman
The Nation
December 2, 2022

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An open letter to Narges Mohammadi

From Siri Hustvedt for PEN International, in solidarity with the Iranian protestors.

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One Zan: inspired by the courageous women of Iran

Phoenix Pagliacci, a Canadian singer songwriter, releases "One Zan," a re-mix inspired by the bravery of Iranian women and their current Women, Life, Freedom (Zan, Zendeghi, Azadi) movement. The song is part of a larger media project led by female storytelling technologists, novelists, artists, and musicians from around the world. The song will launch to the public on November 19th and later as part of a voice AI on December 20, 2022.

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Revelations of the War in Ukraine

James Carrol’s 6-part essay is a special issue from Public Seminar
September 7, 2022

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Bearing Witness

Reimagining in poetry the victims of the Babyn Yar massacre
By Askold Melnyczuk
Times Literary Supplement
September 30, 2022

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For the Record: How to Talk About War

War is what happens when words fail. In this short documentary, Askold Melnyczuk and Jacki Lyden join Christopher Merril, Victoria Amelina, and Roman Avramenko to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.

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The Sins of the High Court's Supreme Catholics

The overturn of Roe v. Wade is part of ultra-conservatives’ long history of rejecting Galileo, Darwin, and Americanism
By James Carrol
The New Yorker
August 19, 2022

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My Daughters

“My Daughters” Original Music Video
Lyrics by Hillary Rollins - Music & Vocals by Michele Brourman
Based on a poem by Jo-Ann Mort
Video created by filmmaker & multi-media creative Francesca Rizzo

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Racism, Patriarchy, and Power

Siri Hustvedt on the Toxic Thinking Behind the Supreme Court’s Destruction of Abortion Rights
June 27, 2022

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For the Record: Conversations with Ukrainian Writers

Askold Melnyczuk (Founding Member) in conversation with Marjana Savka
June 16, 2022

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On the Buffalo Shooting & the History of “Great Replacement Theory”

Letters from an American — Heather Cox Richardson
May 15, 2022

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The Russian War on Ukraine Has Always Been a War on Its Language

By Askold Melnyczuk, Founding Member
May 11, 2022

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These 12 NC Writers Say There’s Only One Way to Counter Ongoing Attacks on Democracy

The News & Observer — Jill McCorkle (Founding Member), Philip Gerard, Jaki Shelton Green, Joseph Bathanti, Bland Simpson, Belle Boggs, Thomas Mills, Wiley Cash, Lynn York, Alex Albright, Margaret Bauer, and Gabrielle Calvocoressi
April 20, 2022

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Authors and Booksellers Mobilize for Midterm Voters

Publishers Weekly — Nathalie op de Beeck
April 13, 2022

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The Futility of Censorship:

The New York Review of Books — Ariel Dorfman
April 7, 2022

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Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court

The New York Times — Carl Hulse and Annie Karni
April 7, 2022

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Writers,

We invite you to add your names and, where relevant, institutional affiliation, to the statement below in support of Ukraine. WDA has jointly signed it with The American Association for Ukrainian Studies and The Shevchenko Scientific Society in the U.S.

Joint Statement on Russia’s War Against Ukraine

February 24, 2022

We condemn the decision by the President of Russia to invade Ukraine. Unarmed civilian populations in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and other cities across Ukraine are currently under attack in what is the largest military operation in Europe since the end of World War II. We are shocked and appalled by this unprovoked war of aggression.

Since independence in 1991, Ukraine has declared it a state priority to integrate with the EU and the West. After the Orange Revolution of 2004, when Ukrainian citizens rejected the results of a rigged election, the Russian government has grown increasingly belligerent. In remarks intended to justify this invasion, President Vladimir Putin indicates that he considers Ukrainians to be part of the Russian nation and Ukrainian statehood to be illegitimate. To turn back the clock and destroy the Ukrainian state, he has compiled “kill lists” and made broader plans of repression to rein in what he calls “Nazism and extremism.” In reality, he is targeting the democratically elected Ukrainian government, the independent media, and various civil rights activists, including LGBTQ rights advocates. He also seeks to silence scholars who have researched Stalinist atrocities such as the Holodomor, the complexities of World War II, and other subjects that do not correspond with Putin’s affirmative view of Soviet history. His plans for repression in Ukraine reveal that Putin will use this military invasion to destroy groups and institutions that have fought hard for human rights, media freedom, and other democratic advances in Ukraine, just as he has done at home, where he has used violence against reformers and activists attempting to promote human rights and civil society in Russia.

We call on all of you to join with Ukrainians in solidarity, rejecting the illegal efforts of the Russian government to destroy an independent sovereign state with a democratically elected government in Ukraine.

Signed,

The American Association for Ukrainian Studies (AAUS)
The Shevchenko Scientific Society in the U.S. (NTSh-A)
Writers for Democratic Action

Halyna Hryn, Harvard University (President, NTSh-A)
Oxana Shevel, Tufts University (President, AAUS)

NTSh-A Board Members
Virko Baley, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Laada Bilaniuk, University of Washington
Ivanna Bilych, lawyer
Margarita Balmaceda, Seton Hall University
Roman Brukh, Rutgers University
Lev Chaban, Harvard University
Vitaly Chernetsky, University of Kansas
Andriy Danylenko, Pace University
Jurij Dobczansky, Shevchenko Scientific Society
Pavlo Gintov, pianist
George Grabowicz, Harvard University
Adriana Helbig, University of Pittsburgh
Alexandra Hrycak, Reed College
Solomiya Ivakhiv, University of Connecticut
Martha Kichorowska Kebalo, World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations
Albert Kipa, Muhlenberg College
Oleh Kotsyuba, Harvard University
Askold Melnyczuk, writer, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Olena Nikolayenko, Fordham University
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Northwestern University
Serhii Plokhy, Harvard University
Anna Procyk, Kingsborough Community College
Roman Shirokov, Rutgers University
Andrew Sorokowski, lawyer and independent scholar
Myron Stachiw, historian and independent scholar
Zenon Wasyliw, Ithaca College
Vasyl Zayachkivsky, Ph.D.

NTSh-A Audit Committee
Leonid Hrabovsky, Shevchenko Scientific Society
Melania Nynka
Orest Deychakiwsky
Kathy Nalywajko

AAUS Board Members
Emily Channell-Justice, Harvard University
Paul D’Anieri, University of California, Riverside
Ostap Kin, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University
Sophia Wilson, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Myroslava Tomorug Znayenko, Rutgers University

Add Your Name

Press Kit

Impact Statement

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Book the Vote: Press Release

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Writers for Democratic Action Logo

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News

Reproductive Freedoms: Hiding Behind States' Rights

When Clay Speaks: A Poem

Selected Works from Young Writers for Democratic Action

We Must Insist That Out of the 7 October Tragedy Must Come Lasting Peace

War Stays for Dinner (Introduction to a Special Issue of Irish Pages)

Remembering Paul Auster

A Mouthful of Air: The Power of Poetry in a Time of War

Don't think fascism could happen here? You haven't tracked the school book bans.

Remembering Paul Auster through his time as an NPR contributor

Congressional Hearings Are a Pretext for an Assault on Higher Education

Jill McCorkle Is Getting Over Her ‘Henry James Phobia': An Interview

A Review of ABSOLUTE ANIMAL, poems by Rachel DeWoskin

The Death of a Mouse and the Fall of Rome

A Poetry Reading in Diyarbakir

The War in Ukraine: A Conversation with Askold Melnyczuk, Héctor Abad Faciolince, Carolyn Forché, Christopher Merrill, and Oksana Lutsyshyna

Tell Me Something Good

Lines from the Front: Carolyn Forché on a wartime anthology of Ukrainian Poetry

A Profusion of Poets

The poetic governance of Chile’s firebrand president, A Perspective.

Indicted!

A Review of Julia Cimafiejeva’s Motherfield, poems translated from the Belarusian by Valzhyna Mort & Hanif Abdurraqib

A Moment That Changed Me: Ariel Dorfman on a night in a police cell that gave him hope.

Denial, Lies, & Fear: Democracy in Jeopardy

Auden’s foreboding poem ‘September 1, 1939,’ captures today’s mood, too

Chile’s Battle for Memory: A Report from the Latest Front

Who Poisoned Pablo Neruda?

In Memory of a Poet: Carolyn Forché Remembers Charles Simic

In the Hour of War: Carolyn Forché and Ilya Kaminsky on Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry

With the nationalists in power, Israel needs a Jewish-Arab alliance

Askold Melnyczuk: I Was a Pacificist—And Then They Came to Kill My Family

Paul Auster: Why Is America the Most Violent Country in the Western World? On the Normalization of Gun Culture in the United States

Arrowsmith Journal

Translation

The Rest of the Story

Salvador Allende Still Speaks to Us Today

An open letter to Narges Mohammadi

One Zan: inspired by the courageous women of Iran

Revelations of the War in Ukraine

Bearing Witness

For the Record: How to Talk About War

The Sins of the High Court's Supreme Catholics

My Daughters

Racism, Patriarchy, and Power

For the Record: Conversations with Ukrainian Writers

On the Buffalo Shooting & the History of “Great Replacement Theory”

The Russian War on Ukraine Has Always Been a War on Its Language

These 12 NC Writers Say There’s Only One Way to Counter Ongoing Attacks on Democracy

Authors and Booksellers Mobilize for Midterm Voters

The Futility of Censorship:

Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court

Joint Statement on Russia’s War Against Ukraine

Impact Statement

Book the Vote: Press Release

Writers for Democratic Action Logo

Archive

“Exile”: For Ilya Kaminsky, A Poem by Carolyn Forché

All That We have Is A Voice: Writers from Ukraine Speaking to Writers in Boston

Line / Break: An Interview with Carolyn Forché

A Call to Southern Writers: Register People to Vote at Literary Events

Carolyn Forché Elected Chancellor of Academy of American Poets

Lines for Ukraine: “If there is ink.”

Dr. Olha Poliukhovych & Askold Melnyczuk on the War in Ukraine: In Conversation with Mitchell Kaplan on The Literary Life Podcast

With Madonna in Kyiv

Ilya Kaminsky on Ukrainian, Russian, and the Language of War

Auden’s foreboding poem ‘September 1, 1939,’ captures today’s mood, too

The Sound of Truth: Writers for Democratic Action, Here and ElsewhereIn Memory of Todd Gitlin

NC political maps unconstitutionally gerrymandered, Supreme Court rules

Poet & WDA Founding Member, Carolyn Forché Named Newest Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets

An Open Letter Calling for Immediate Passage of Voting Rights Legislation

Steve Bannon Is On To Something

Sarasota Poetry Event For Students Nixed After Parents Complain

from Letters from an American

The Challenge of Chile

Arizona Students Stage Hunger Strike to Urge Sinema to Support Voting Reform

from Letters from an American

The Scapegoat: Siri Hustvedt on the Torture and Murder of Sylvia Likens: An Essay from her new book, Mothers, Fathers, and Others

An Open Letter to the School Districts of the State of Texas

An Open Letter in Defense of Democracy

Look What’s Inside the Bill, Please: The Details of the $3.5 Trillion Package

The Sound of Truth: Writers for Democratic Action, Here and Elsewhere
In Memory of Todd Gitlin