SMOLOSKYP PUBLISHING HOUSE

 421209.11.2006

“SMOLOSKYP” PUBLISHING HOUSE

The Ukrainian Diaspora publishing house, “Smoloskyp” [“Torch”] was created in 1952 in Paris where it began as the journal “Smoloskyp” attached to the newspaper “Ukrainske slovo”.  In 1960 the publishing house continued its work in Baltimore, USA.  Since 1964, the publishing house has been named after the poet Vasyl SYMONENKO (who died in December 1963).  It was financed by Ukrainian communities in the USA and Canada. Since its founding, the publishing house has been run by Osip ZINKEVYCH.

“Smoloskyp” has published more than 100 works of Ukrainian samvydav [samizdat] and books prohibited in Soviet Ukraine, the memoirs of former political prisoners, five volumes of the works of M. Khvylyovy, the works of L. KOSTENKO, O. BERDNYK, M. RUDENKO, M. OSADCHY, I. KALYNETS, M. KHOLODNY, V. STUS and others. It republished the samizdat journal “Ukrainsky visnyk” [“Ukrainian Herald” ] (1971-72, 1975, 1988), “Kafedra” [“Rostrum”] (1988), and has also published collections of documents and material of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group: “The Ukrainian human rights movement. Documents and material of the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote Implementation of the Helsinki Accords (1978); “Information bulletin of the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote Implementation of the Helsinki Accords” (1981); “The Ukrainian Helsinki Group. 1978-1982. Documents and Material (1983), “The Human rights movement in Ukraine: documents of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group 1976 – 1980” [in English], and others.

“Smoloskyp” publications were illegally smuggled into the USSR, since before perestroika people suffered persecution for possessing or circulating them.

With independence, the publishing house moved in 1992 to Ukraine where it has been registered since 1993. It has created a grant foundation for young political sciences, language and literature specialists and historians, and each year in May holds literary and political science seminars and conferences in Irlen near Kyiv. It offers awards for poetry, prose, essays, drama, children’s books, political sciences and history.  “Smoloskyp” organizes youth scientificconferences, seminars for creative youth, discussions, political games, literary evenings, and publishes the works of young authors who receive first place in its competitions, thus helping them in their scientific or literary career.

“Smoloskyp”’s publications include the anthologies: “Conservatism”, “Nationalism”, “Liberalism” and “Democracy”, the works in four volumes of the philosopher Dmitry Chizhevsky, the anthology “The Pereslavsk Council of 1654”. It is publishing in the series “Rozstrilyane vidrodzhennya” [“Executed Renaissance”] the selected works of writers who were victims of repression in the 1920s – 1930s, the almanac “Moloda natsiya” [“Young nation”], the newspaper “Smoloskyp Ukrainy”. Since 2002 it has been publishing the works of Viacheslav CHORNOVIL in 10 volumes.

The international charitable foundation “Smoloskyp” provides support for former political prisoners, their children and grandchildren who show scientific or literary talent.