Liudmyla Taran (b. 1954) is a Ukrainian poet, prose writer and literary thinker. She belongs to the generation of the 1980s in Ukrainian literature that rejected socialist realism and replaced it with free, bold and individual expression. Taran’s poetry is characterised by emotional depth and a strong musical quality, leading Doris Kareva to describe her style as “sharp and fiery blues”. In Estonian, readers can find her war-themed poetry selection Bleeding Land and the collected selection Apples of Paradise, which brings together poems written over a period of 20 years. Most of the selection predates Russia’s full-scale invasion. The volume also highlights the long-standing friendship between the author and translator – herself a respected poet – dating back to 1976, as well as their shared socio-political background, which further enhances the expressiveness of Taran’s poetry in Estonian.
Ljudmõla Taran
