In Haifa, nearly 400 pages of Ukrainian poetry are being prepared in Hebrew: 50 authors and Ukraine, which is almost unknown in Israel

In Haifa, they are preparing an almost 400-page anthology of contemporary Ukrainian poetry in Hebrew — 50 authors from Emma Andievska to the youngest voices. I checked the history of the project and discovered an important detail: Ukrainian poetry was translated into Hebrew long before 2026, but this book presents a completely different Ukraine to the Israeli reader — modern, multi-generational, and multilingual.

Author: R.Verter

On August 25, 2026, a seemingly small literary news appeared: the Israeli publishing house Pardes is preparing an anthology of contemporary Ukrainian poetry translated into Hebrew. Almost 400 pages. Fifty poets. Several generations — from Emma Andievska to the youngest authors.

But when I started checking the background of this book, the simple news began to unravel into several much more interesting stories. It turned out that Ukrainian poetry was heard in Hebrew in 2017 and in 1990. Moreover, literally in this same 2026, the Israeli reader already received a separate large anthology of Ukrainian classics. Therefore, the formula ‘Ukrainian poetry is being published in Hebrew in Israel for the first time’ would be beautiful — and incorrect.

However, the truly new thing here is different. The new anthology attempts to show Israel not only Ukrainian literature but also Ukraine itself as a country of several languages, ethnic traditions, different historical experiences, and generations. And when among the texts, alongside Ukrainian, appear Crimean Tatar, Romani, Rumeika, and Urum, it is no longer just a matter of translating poems.

For NAnews — Israel Newstion point is particularly interesting. We are used to seeing Ukraine in the Israeli news through war, diplomatic disputes, Uman, Jewish communities, or the relations between Kyiv and Jerusalem. Here, the conversation goes a different way: what does an Israeli learn about Ukraine when Ukraine starts speaking to him directly in Hebrew?

What exactly is being prepared in Haifa — and why should we be cautious with the word ‘first’

The compiler and translator of the anthology on August 25, 2026, Alexander Averbukh announced that the book will include works by 50 Ukrainian poets of different generations. Volume — almost 400 pages. The book is published by Pardes Publishing in Haifa.

Chytomo published the names of 36 participants: Alexander Mimruk, Kateryna Mikhalitsyna, Ostap Slyvynsky, Bohdana Matiash, Ihor Mitrov, Yulia Musakovska, Lesyk Panasyuk, Oleh Kotsarev, Dmytro Lazutkin, Rostyslav Kuzyk, Darina Hladun, Oksana Maksymchuk, Olha Brahina, Myroslav Laiuk, Viktor Shylo, Stanislav Belsky, Marta Mokhnatska, Dmytro Blyznyuk, Sergo Mushtatov, Vasyl Makhno, Anastasia Afanasieva, Marianna Kiyanovska, Seyare Kokcheeva-Useinova, Yanush Panchenko, Viktor Neborak, Maye Abdulganieva, Nicholas Akhbash, Vano Kryuger, Yanis Sinaiko, Iryna Shuvalova, Yuriy Tarnavsky, Olena Huseynova, Kateryna Kalytko, Halyna Kruk, Iryna Tsilyk, and Hryhoriy Falkovych.

It turns out to be simple but important arithmetic: 50 authors are announced, and so far 36 have been publicly named. The names of the remaining 14 participants are not indicated in the open materials I checked. I deliberately do not try to complete this list based on Averbukh’s past events: a person’s participation in his festival five years ago does not necessarily mean they were included in the final 2026 book.

Diana Shapiro, Shlomo Krol, Dolya Pidgaits, Valeria Valdman, and Anton Paperny worked on the translations together with Averbukh. The literary editor is Leah Klebanoff. Some of these names appeared in Averbukh’s Ukrainian-Israeli poetic projects during the first months of the full-scale Russian war.

The publishing house Pardes formulates the significance of the book more carefully than sometimes retold in headlines: it is about the first Hebrew translation project of this type, which presents contemporary Ukrainian poetry as both multi-generational and multilingual.

With such a formulation, the facts align.

Averbukh wrote about the project: ‘For me, this is more than a book. This is my Ukraine — polyphonic, alive, indestructible.’ Another of his formulations helps to understand the publishing principle even more precisely: from the very beginning, it was important to him that Ukraine ‘sounded in many of its languages.’

And this is not a metaphor.

Why Crimean Tatar, Romani, Rumeika, and Urum are in the Ukrainian anthology

The Israeli reader here requires an explanation because even the phrase ‘multilingual Ukraine’ can be easily understood too simplistically — as a usual dispute between Ukrainian and Russian.

The new anthology is arranged differently. In addition to works originally written in Ukrainian, it features texts in Crimean Tatar, Romani, Rumeika, and Urum.

Crimean Tatar is the language of the indigenous people of Crimea, who experienced the Soviet deportation of 1944, return to the peninsula, and after the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, again found themselves under strong political and cultural pressure.

Romani is not one absolutely uniform literary language. In Ukraine, there are several Romani dialect traditions. One of the anthology’s authors, Yanush Panchenko, is a poet, translator, ethnographer, and researcher of Romani dialects. He writes, among other things, in the Vlach dialect of Romani and is engaged in its preservation and development. For him, creating his own poems is literally one of the ways to prevent the language from disappearing.

Rumeika and Urum will require decoding for most Israelis. Rumeika is associated with the Greek-speaking tradition of part of the Greeks of Ukrainian Azov. Urum is the Turkic language of another part of this historical community. These are two different language branches within the world of Azov Greeks, who have lived for centuries in the territory of present-day Ukraine.

The Crimean Tatar line is well represented by another participant in the book — Maye Abdulganieva, also known as Maye Safet. She was born in Crimea in 1972, writes in Crimean Tatar, Ukrainian, and Russian. In 2013, her first Crimean Tatar poetry collection was published. And on February 21, 2026, it was Abdulganieva who read the text of the eighth annual online dictation in the Crimean Tatar language.

That is, these languages are included in the book not for a beautiful publishing annotation. Behind them are living literary communities, the problems of passing the language to the next generations, occupation, deportations, assimilation, and attempts to preserve their own speech.

For Israel, this is perhaps more understandable than it might seem. Here, there is no need to explain from scratch that a language can be both a means of everyday communication, a part of national memory, and a way of resisting the disappearance of culture.

That is why I would not reduce the new book to the formula ’50 Ukrainian poets translated into Hebrew.’ The main difference begins after the word ‘Ukrainian’: the anthology offers the Israeli a more complex definition of who and what modern Ukraine includes.

Who is Alexander Averbukh — and why this book did not appear in one year

For the Israeli reader, Alexander Averbukh also requires an introduction. He is not an external translator whom the publishing house once commissioned to write a book about Ukraine.

Averbukh was born in 1985 in Novoaidar, Luhansk region. After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, this settlement came under Russian occupation. Averbukh himself lived in Israel for about 15 years and then moved to Canada for academic work.

In 2022, he received a PhD from the University of Toronto. He worked at the University of Alberta and Harvard. Currently, the University of Michigan lists him as an Assistant Professor of Ukrainian Literature and Culture and LSA Collegiate Fellow — in simpler terms, a teacher and researcher of Ukrainian literature and culture.

His academic work is precisely at the intersection of Eastern European and Jewish history, literature, memory, propaganda, identity, and multilingualism. His university profile currently lists more than 60 published collections of literary translations between Ukrainian, Hebrew, Russian, and English. Separately, sources on Averbukh’s Ukrainian-Jewish activities record more than 30 collections of contemporary Ukrainian poetry that he translated and published in Hebrew.

His own book ‘Jewish King’ became a finalist for the National Prize of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko. For the Israeli reader, the closest human explanation is this: it is one of Ukraine’s main state awards in the field of culture and literature, although there is no direct legal analogue of any specific Israeli award here.

And now begins the part that completely changed this story for me.

In the summer of 2020, Averbukh organized an online Festival of Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry. It lasted eight weeks — from July 2 to August 20 — and consisted of eight weekly meetings with the participation of 16 Ukrainian poets. Among them were already Marianna Kiyanovska, Ostap Slyvynsky, Halyna Kruk, Myroslav Laiuk, Iryna Shuvalova, Lesyk Panasyuk, Olena Huseynova, Yanis Sinaiko, Darina Hladun, Oleh Kotsarev, Vano Kryuger, Sergo Mushtatov, and others. A significant part of these names now reappears in the Pardes anthology.

In 2022, the work already received a direct Ukrainian-Israeli dimension. Averbukh organized the first series of bilingual Ukrainian-Hebrew literary events dedicated to contemporary Ukrainian poetry translated into Hebrew.

At least two meetings can be reconstructed from archival announcements. The first took place on March 10, 2022 — two weeks after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. The second was held on June 30. At it, Israeli poets and translators read Hebrew versions of works by contemporary Ukrainian authors, and the Ukrainian poets themselves read the originals.

The organizers then quite directly described the goal: to support Ukraine, promote Ukrainian literature and culture in Israel and in Hebrew, and create direct contact between Ukrainian and Israeli authors.

In November 2023, the project can already be seen in the next stage. At the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, Averbukh talked about the upcoming anthology of contemporary Ukrainian poetry in Hebrew. At that time, it was about works by more than 30 authors.

There is a detail on which I stopped separately. At that meeting, it was noted that some Ukrainian poems, which arose as a reaction to Russian aggression against Ukraine, after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, began to be perceived differently in Israel — Israeli listeners read them already through their own experience of war, violence, and loss.

And now let’s compare the numbers without unnecessary reasoning: in 2023 — more than 30 poets. In August 2026 — 50 and almost 400 pages.

This is not a random collection quickly made under the current war. We see a project that has grown for at least six years.

Ukrainian poetry spoke in Hebrew long before this book

Here, I had to check the word ‘first’ especially carefully.

In 2026 itself, a large anthology of Ukrainian classical poetry by Persimmon Books already appeared in Israel. NAnews previously detailed this edition.

Its Hebrew title — “למה, מלה, לא חדה כמו פלדה את? : מסקובורודה עד פרנקו” — ‘Why, word, are you not sharp as steel? From Skovoroda to Franko.’

The book features 25 authors — 18 men and seven women — from Ukrainian literature of the 18th century to the end of the 19th century. Translated by Anton Paperny, who is now also part of the translation team of the new contemporary Pardes anthology. Editors of the classical volume — Asaf Bartov and Nataliya Tymkiv. ISBN — 9789657798447.

Even here, a small library thorn was found, very useful for fact-checking. The Israeli library catalog indicates 343 pages, the bookstore — 344. Therefore, I did not turn one of these numbers into an absolute fact: in different bibliographic sources, the volume is indicated with a difference of one page.

The project is associated with the initiative נְמָלָה / ‘Nemala’, which builds a two-way bridge between Ukrainian and Hebrew literature. The printing of the book was announced on October 24, 2025, and the sale was announced from January 1, 2026.

So the contemporary Pardes anthology is not even the first large Ukrainian poetic anthology available to Israelis this year.

If we go further back, in 2017, Ukrainian writer Kateryna Babkina presented her poetry book in Hebrew translation by Anton Paperny at the Jerusalem International Book Fair, published by Khaver Laet. Ukrainian Jewish Encounter then separately noted a symbolic detail: Ukrainian poems were first heard from the main stage of the Jerusalem International Book Fair first in the original, then in Hebrew.

But even 2017 is not the beginning.

In 1990, the Kyiv publishing house ‘Veselka’ released a book of children’s poems by Ukrainian-Jewish poet Moisei Fishbein in Ukrainian with parallel translations into Hebrew by Israeli poet and translator Manfred Winkler.

Thirty-six years ago.

Therefore, it is historically more accurate to talk not about the moment when ‘Israel first discovered Ukrainian poetry.’ The process is much longer: individual translations, books, public readings, literary connections, a series of contemporary poetry after 2022, a large classical anthology — and now almost 400 pages of contemporary multilingual Ukraine.

There is also a broader international background. In the UK in 2026, Linen Press released War-Torn Voices: Ukrainian Women’s Poetry — 50 poems by 12 contemporary Ukrainian poets written during the full-scale Russian war. This is another anthology and another selection principle, but it shows one trend: outside Ukraine, they are now translating not only individual most famous authors but are trying to collect entire slices of contemporary Ukrainian literature.

Why the story with Pardes is especially interesting to Israel

Pardes is not a random name of a publishing house in the press release. It is a Haifa publishing house founded in 2000. It is located in the Lower City of Haifa and publishes poetry, prose, non-fiction, experimental literature, and periodicals.

The head of the publishing house is David Gottesman. Before creating Pardes, he worked at the Carmel publishing house in Jerusalem. In 2013, Pardes opened its own printing house. In 2022, together with other publishers, it participated in the creation of the Reading bookstore. Pardes is part of the Israeli Publishers Association.

For me, this is important not because of local Haifa patriotism. Simply, the phrase ‘a Ukrainian anthology will be published in Israel’ creates too abstract a picture. In fact, the book enters a specific Israeli literary environment — through an independent publisher who has been working within the Hebrew book market for a quarter of a century.

Israeli poet and editor Efrat Mishori saw another line in this: the opportunity to re-address through Ukrainian poetry to the space of Ukrainian-Jewish memory — with a shared history, neighborhood, and closeness, but simultaneously with ruptures and violence.

Here, it is very easy to go into beautiful words about ‘bridges between peoples.’ I would not.

Ukrainian-Jewish history does not consist only of bridges. It had pogroms, the Holocaust, Soviet repressions, wars, migrations, assimilation — and simultaneously decades of joint life, cultural influence, and family stories in which it is impossible to draw a sterile line between ‘Ukrainian’ and ‘Jewish.’

Even Averbukh’s own poetry constantly returns to this uncomfortable intersection. And therefore, Mishori’s statement about neighborhood and violence here does not look like a diplomatic reservation. On the contrary, it explains why such a translation might be interesting to the Israeli reader, who does not need another promotional story about ‘eternal friendship.’

There is another shift. Translation into Hebrew removes the intermediary.

For a significant part of past Ukrainian-Israeli cultural communication, such an intermediary was effectively the Russian language. The new book allows contemporary Ukrainian poetry — including texts of Ukraine’s own minorities — to address the Israeli directly in his language.

And here things connect that would separately look like just statistics: 50 authors, five original language traditions, almost 400 pages, six translators, Haifa, and Hebrew.

These are no longer five random parameters of a book. This is a model of what kind of Ukraine the publishers decided to show Israel.

When the anthology will be released, what it is called, and what we really do not know yet

As of August 28, 2026, I have not found confirmed data on the exact release date of the new Pardes anthology, its final price, ISBN, and final Hebrew title. The verified publications use the wording ‘preparing for release.’

Therefore, it is incorrect to write ‘the anthology has already been released in Israel’ or to report a sale date that the publisher has not publicly confirmed.

The full list of all 50 participants is also not published in the sources I found. As I noted above, 36 names are available. It is more reasonable to wait for the remaining 14 from the publisher or compiler themselves, rather than guessing.

These limitations are important for queries like ‘Ukrainian poetry anthology in Hebrew 2026,’ ‘when will the Ukrainian Pardes anthology be released,’ ‘Alexander Averbukh anthology in Israel,’ or ‘where to buy contemporary Ukrainian poetry in Hebrew.’ At the moment, one can confidently talk about the project itself, the Pardes publishing house, the composition of the published part of the authors, the translation team, the volume of about 400 pages, and 50 participants. The price, ISBN, final title, and day of sales start require separate confirmation.

And yet, the result is already visible, which is difficult to fit into a news summary.

In 1990, Moisei Fishbein’s poems with parallel Hebrew were published in Kyiv. In 2017, Kateryna Babkina read Ukrainian poems at the Jerusalem Book Fair. In 2020, Averbukh gathered 16 contemporary poets for an eight-week festival. In March and June 2022, Ukrainian and Israeli authors were already reading the same texts in Ukrainian and Hebrew. In November 2023, the future anthology numbered more than 30 voices. At the beginning of 2026, the Israeli book market received a large volume of Ukrainian classics from Skovoroda to Franko. Now Pardes is preparing 50 contemporary authors.

But more important than the growth of numbers.

The Pardes anthology for the first time gathers for the Hebrew-speaking reader such a broad contemporary Ukrainian picture, where Ukraine speaks not with one voice and not even in one language. Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar, Romani, Rumeika, and Urum are side by side; poets of several generations; people with very different experiences of the country, war, memory, and identity.

I have not seen the final layout of the book, the publishing contract, and Pardes’s closed data, so I cannot evaluate what is not yet in the public field: the final selection of all 50 authors, circulation, sales, or editorial decisions within specific translations.

But the already published data is enough for another conclusion.

If the previous Israeli anthology of 2026 explained to the Hebrew-speaking reader where the Ukrainian poetic tradition grew from — from Skovoroda to Franko, then the new book tries to answer another question: how this tradition sounds today and how many different voices fit within the word ‘Ukraine.’

That is why almost 400 pages of Pardes turn out to be a much larger story than just another translation of a foreign book.

This is a story about how Ukraine gradually gains its own voice in Hebrew — without the obligatory translation through a foreign language and without the need to start acquaintance from scratch each time.

Such a cultural layer NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers no less important a part of the relations between Israel and Ukraine than official visits and politicians’ statements. A political message lives for a few days. A book can remain on an Israeli shelf for decades.