Pushkin and Ottawa Poets
Author: Marina Kochetova
The birthday of the great Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin is approaching. A monument to him still stands even in the centre of the U.S. capital, on the grounds of George Washington University. On the eve of the poet’s birthday, a poetry and music evening will take place at the University of Ottawa, dedicated to A. Pushkin’s birthday and the 10th anniversary of the Ottawa Creative Literary Club, known as TOLK. At the very least, club members will read their best poems. Admission is free for everyone.
On June 6, 2019, the whole world marked the 220th anniversary of A. S. Pushkin’s birth. Many literary competitions were dedicated to this significant date, including one called “Pushkin in Britain.”
This international poetry competition has been held regularly since 2003 and is announced in 70 Russian-language print publications abroad. The founder and president of the International Festival of Russian Poetry “Pushkin in Britain” is Oleg Borushko, a member of the Union of Writers of Russia. By 2018, more than 400 authors from 59 countries had reached the final in London.
Usually, “Pushkin in Britain” is an autumn competition. However, in honour of the great poet’s anniversary, the final of an extraordinary competition was scheduled for the very day of his birthday. Within a short time, those wishing to take part in this respected and honourable event had to continue Pushkin’s line “With the wondrous hero of Albion” from his lycée improvisational poem “To the Prince of Orange.” Three people in Ottawa wished to continue the line. All three were members of the Ottawa Creative Literary Club, founded in 2016: Valentina Vardomskaya, Tatiana Proshina, and Arkady Klyuchansky, the club’s president. All three submitted their applications on time. The competition required not only creating a variation on the assigned theme, but also presenting a selection of nine of their own poems.
The stars were kind to the Ottawa poets, and all three became finalists, travelling to the capital of foggy Albion to compete for the main prizes. For the first time in history, Ottawa was represented by three participants at once, which is an honour both for TOLK as a club and for each of its members who became contestants. In fact, the path to the increasingly popular Pushkin competition had been paved earlier by another TOLK member, who took part in it in 2006. At that time, TOLK did not yet exist, but Ottawa’s Russian-speaking resident Sergey Plyshevsky, who is now a club member, not only reached the final but also received one of the awards.
Time passed. The magic relay baton continued its triumphant journey. This time, Arkady Klyuchansky, the only man among the finalists, received the Audience Choice Award. Tatiana Proshina won the main competition assignment: her continuation of Pushkin’s line was recognized as the best.
Tatiana then shared with me her impressions of how our Ottawa poets shone in Great Britain.
M.K.: Tatiana, first of all, please allow me to congratulate you on your successful debut at an international competition and on your victory. Was it unexpected for you?
T.P.: Thank you! What soldier does not dream of becoming a general? But, to be honest, I did not expect that my competition poem would turn out to be the best. Personally, I thought Valentina Vardomskaya had done better with the tournament assignment.
M.K.: Did you go to the tournament as a team, or was everyone there on their own?
T.P.: It was not a team competition. Nevertheless, the participants and jury members present at the contest, as well as the audience, perceived us precisely as a team.
M.K.: Please tell us more about your fellow writers.
T.P.: Arkady, the only man among the finalists who came to the competition, stood out favourably among the ladies. When he read his poems in a melodic recitative, the audience immediately fell in love with him and awarded him the Audience Choice Prize. His performance can be seen on Facebook on the page “Culture Without Borders.” At the master classes, Arkady impressed everyone with his academic knowledge of Russian classics. As for Valentina, I would like to emphasize that both the audience and the jury members noted the sincerity and warmth of her poems. The audience loved her tournament work, a poem about the Olympic Mishka. It was one of the best. And the image of a caught little fish from a poem read at the competition became a household expression and a symbol of luck and happiness.
M.K.: Very interesting! It seems that your team spirit impressed everyone and had a positive effect on the outcome of the competition. How do you evaluate the organization of the contest? Was it highly professional?
T.P.: The seventeenth extraordinary poets’ tournament was held in the capital of Great Britain from June 5 to 9. The program included a poetry jam and the concert “Poet to Poet,” a panel discussion “Do We Know the Classics?” with jury member and professional poet Andrey Galamaga; Oleg Borushko gave a presentation titled “Lermontov’s Artistic Missteps” in the story “Bela.” There were also round tables, master classes, and poetry readings. The first prize was unanimously awarded to Tatiana Yufit from Great Britain. She received a bronze statuette of Pushkin created by Odessa sculptor Klim Stepanov. I believe the jury’s decision was fair. The sponsor of the competition is the federal agency Rossotrudnichestvo. The organizational work is carried out by a group of volunteers from London’s first literary association, “Master Class.” Yes, the level of organization was high. Without a doubt, such competitions support the Russian cultural diaspora abroad.
A native Muscovite, Tatiana Proshina has lived in Canada for more than twenty years. She received her higher education at one of the most prestigious universities in the USSR, now Moscow State Linguistic University. Since her youth, she has written not only poems and short stories but also painted in oils. In Ottawa, after joining TOLK, she has participated not only in club meetings but also in musical and poetry evenings, where participants traditionally read their poems, sometimes accompanied by slides; sing songs based on their own poems; or alternate them with musical interludes. Live music, whether violin or guitar, always makes a performance more powerful and memorable.
Tatiana was the first to give the audience a big surprise: she read her lyrical poems not against a background of musical accompaniment, but alternated them with music composed specially for the words of the poems she had selected for the concert. The composer and performer was professional cellist and Tatiana’s close friend Nina Gordon. Since then, Nina and Tatiana have demonstrated a kind of symbiosis of music and poetry, each time touching the heartstrings of their listeners. I think the club’s anniversary concert on June 5 will be no exception.
How wonderful it is that there are so many creative people among Ottawa’s Russian-speaking community!
author’s collection of essays Gallery of Destinies.