Richard Coombes
@richtranslator.bsky.social
Ukrainian and Russian speaker, translator of verse, lyrics and literary prose. Out now: Disbelief, Dislocation, Someone Else’s Life, The Food Block. https://richardcoombeslanguageservices.com
Well, this is an extract from an email I wrote to my Member of Parliament on 17 February 2025, a few months after he had been elected:
November 22, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Well, this is an extract from an email I wrote to my Member of Parliament on 17 February 2025, a few months after he had been elected:
So the publisher Anetta Antonenko, who asked me to translate extracts of Liubko Deresh's novel "Medusa's Gaze", has now asked me to translate an extract of Yevhenia Kononenko's literary non-fiction book "Той божевільний рік".
November 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM
So the publisher Anetta Antonenko, who asked me to translate extracts of Liubko Deresh's novel "Medusa's Gaze", has now asked me to translate an extract of Yevhenia Kononenko's literary non-fiction book "Той божевільний рік".
Yes trump is Agent Krasnov, so no good will ever come from him. But isn’t it a fact that many “allies” of Ukraine are funding Russia’s war?
September 13, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Yes trump is Agent Krasnov, so no good will ever come from him. But isn’t it a fact that many “allies” of Ukraine are funding Russia’s war?
З Днем Незалежності України! 🇺🇦🌻Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!
August 24, 2025 at 7:07 AM
З Днем Незалежності України! 🇺🇦🌻Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!
I've been asked to translate parts of Lubko Deresh's novel Погляд Медузи for the Frankfurt Book Fair and for other pitches to anglophone publishers. I've done only poems for months, and I'm trying to remember what it felt like to translate 105,000 words, so that I can face these 7750!
#translation
#translation
August 5, 2025 at 9:54 AM
I've been asked to translate parts of Lubko Deresh's novel Погляд Медузи for the Frankfurt Book Fair and for other pitches to anglophone publishers. I've done only poems for months, and I'm trying to remember what it felt like to translate 105,000 words, so that I can face these 7750!
#translation
#translation
I don’t know how Yevhenia Kuznetsova writes as she does. She’s a genius at seeing inside people, reading their motivations, hearing their speech. Unfortunately I’m already more than three-quarters of the way through her latest novel and I’ve read the others.
#ukraine #ukrainianliterature #langsky
#ukraine #ukrainianliterature #langsky
July 26, 2025 at 8:03 AM
I don’t know how Yevhenia Kuznetsova writes as she does. She’s a genius at seeing inside people, reading their motivations, hearing their speech. Unfortunately I’m already more than three-quarters of the way through her latest novel and I’ve read the others.
#ukraine #ukrainianliterature #langsky
#ukraine #ukrainianliterature #langsky
I told my friend in Cherkasy I'd bought a new fridge and it’s perfect except that really the door should open the other way; rehanging it requires effort. Seeing the future in a flash, she replied, «Немає нічого більш постійного, ніж тимчасове». “There’s nothing so permanent as something temporary”.
July 21, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I told my friend in Cherkasy I'd bought a new fridge and it’s perfect except that really the door should open the other way; rehanging it requires effort. Seeing the future in a flash, she replied, «Немає нічого більш постійного, ніж тимчасове». “There’s nothing so permanent as something temporary”.
Another poem by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko.
July 5, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Another poem by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko.
At Marina Ponomarenko's invitation, I have participated in a Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties project called "Тримайся! Тримаюсь!" ("Hold on!" "I'm holding on!") designed to publicise the treatment by Russia of prisoners in Russia's latest war on Ukraine.
Project Insta link: buff.ly/Kxoa781...
Project Insta link: buff.ly/Kxoa781...
July 4, 2025 at 10:03 AM
At Marina Ponomarenko's invitation, I have participated in a Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties project called "Тримайся! Тримаюсь!" ("Hold on!" "I'm holding on!") designed to publicise the treatment by Russia of prisoners in Russia's latest war on Ukraine.
Project Insta link: buff.ly/Kxoa781...
Project Insta link: buff.ly/Kxoa781...
Here is a newly-minted poem by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko. A clip of her reading the poem in situ in the countryside can be found on Facebook, and the importance of hearing the original sounds has persuaded me to include a link to her reading.
www.facebook.com/share/r/1B8G...
www.facebook.com/share/r/1B8G...
July 3, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Here is a newly-minted poem by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko. A clip of her reading the poem in situ in the countryside can be found on Facebook, and the importance of hearing the original sounds has persuaded me to include a link to her reading.
www.facebook.com/share/r/1B8G...
www.facebook.com/share/r/1B8G...
Like London buses, my translations of Marina Ponomarenko get bunched up in the traffic and all arrive together. Well, anyway, the last two did. Here is number 11.
June 14, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Like London buses, my translations of Marina Ponomarenko get bunched up in the traffic and all arrive together. Well, anyway, the last two did. Here is number 11.
A light in the darkness. Yevhenia Kuznetsova has written a new book
June 12, 2025 at 6:25 AM
A light in the darkness. Yevhenia Kuznetsova has written a new book
Marina Ponomarenko published this poem on 4 March 2022. Now seems as good as any other day for us to see it again. My ninth translation of her work.
May 24, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Marina Ponomarenko published this poem on 4 March 2022. Now seems as good as any other day for us to see it again. My ninth translation of her work.
Here is my eighth translation of work by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko.
May 23, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Here is my eighth translation of work by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko.
Here is my seventh translation of work by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko. Marina wrote this poem a while back, and re-posted it on 10 February 2025.
Original here, translation in next post.
#ukraine #ukrainianpoetry #translation
Original here, translation in next post.
#ukraine #ukrainianpoetry #translation
May 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Here is my seventh translation of work by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko. Marina wrote this poem a while back, and re-posted it on 10 February 2025.
Original here, translation in next post.
#ukraine #ukrainianpoetry #translation
Original here, translation in next post.
#ukraine #ukrainianpoetry #translation
It’s surprising how often I meet ducks out shopping at my local supermarket
May 2, 2025 at 7:38 PM
It’s surprising how often I meet ducks out shopping at my local supermarket
Here is my fourth translation of poetry by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko.
April 30, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Here is my fourth translation of poetry by the Ukrainian poetess Marina Ponomarenko.
Marina Ponomarenko is a tremendous Ukrainian poetess. Here is a poem she wrote on 24 December 2024, and my translation.
April 20, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Marina Ponomarenko is a tremendous Ukrainian poetess. Here is a poem she wrote on 24 December 2024, and my translation.
In Ukrainian: готуй сани влітку, а воза взимку. 'Ready your sledge in summer and your cart in winter'. I've decided I don't know if we say anything in English as musical or evocative as this to capture the idea of looking and ahead and making any necessary preparations in good time. Anyone?
#langsky
#langsky
February 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
In Ukrainian: готуй сани влітку, а воза взимку. 'Ready your sledge in summer and your cart in winter'. I've decided I don't know if we say anything in English as musical or evocative as this to capture the idea of looking and ahead and making any necessary preparations in good time. Anyone?
#langsky
#langsky
Food and drink. English 'Alike as two peas in a pod'; Ukrainian як дві краплі води ('like two drops of water'). Ukrainian вичавлений лимон ('a squeezed-out lemon'); English 'like a rag doll' (among others). Ukrainian заварити кашу ('to make porridge'); English 'to stir up trouble' (better ideas?)
February 24, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Food and drink. English 'Alike as two peas in a pod'; Ukrainian як дві краплі води ('like two drops of water'). Ukrainian вичавлений лимон ('a squeezed-out lemon'); English 'like a rag doll' (among others). Ukrainian заварити кашу ('to make porridge'); English 'to stir up trouble' (better ideas?)