Maksym Kryvtsov's poetry collection, "Poems from the Loophole," is set to be published in the UK by Jantar Publishing, with translations by Larissa Babij and Helena Kernan, supported by an English PEN Translates grant. Kryvtsov, a Ukrainian soldier and poet, was killed in 2024 while defending Ukraine.
Read More
Preti Taneja, co-chair of the English PEN Translation Advisory Group, emphasized the importance of such projects in connecting writers and translators to new audiences.
The founder of Jantar Publishing, Michael Tate, has been eager to publish Kryvtsov's collection since 2023, with the English edition anticipated for release in 2027. This publication will be the third Ukrainian poetry book in the Amber Poets series, following Artur Dron's "We Were Here" and Yaryna Chornohuz's "[dasein: defence of presence]."
Ukrainian poet Yuliya Musakovska noted that Kryvtsov's poem "Mary to Golgotha" resonated deeply during its presentation in the UK in July 2023, garnering attention from Hugh Roberts and his colleagues at the University of Exeter. Roberts recalled the poem's impact during the “Translating Cultures with UNESCO Cities of Literature” event, highlighting its artistic significance.
Roberts described "Mary to Golgotha" as one of the highest orders of literary work, aligning with Simone Weil's thoughts on the unity of truth, beauty, and justice in art. He expressed a personal connection to the poem, stating it helps him navigate challenges.
The Exeter translation initiative, which had been looking for a publisher for Dron's work, established contact with Tate after Roberts' team saw a post about Kryvtsov's passing. Following this, Jantar published Dron's collection with the backing of the Ukrainian Book Institute’s Translate Ukraine program.
Born on January 22, 1990, in Rivne, Kryvtsov actively participated in Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity and joined the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps in 2014, after the onset of Russia's war against Ukraine. He later served at a veterans' rehabilitation center and resumed military service after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kryvtsov was killed on January 7, 2024, while serving as a machine gunner with Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces.
His debut collection, "Вірші з бійниці" (“Poems from the Loophole”), was published by Nash Format in December 2023 and featured his photography. The collection was included in PEN Ukraine’s list of the best Ukrainian books of 2023. In 2025, a posthumous compilation titled "На мінному полі пам’яті. Щоденники, есеї, оповідання" (“In the Minefield of Memory: Diaries, Essays and Short Stories”) was released, gathering his diary entries, essays, short stories, and selected poems, edited by fellow serviceman Valerii Puzik.
Kryvtsov was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine in August 2025. His works have been translated into French, Modern Greek, Lithuanian, and Portuguese, with significant recognition in these languages. Previously, the French edition was published by Éditions Bleu et Jaune, while Baziliskas released the Lithuanian edition, which won recognition as the best translation of 2025 in Lithuania.