Poetry across the Atlantic: Lesyk Panasiuk opens the second Versopolis transatlantic exchange

Ukrainian poet, translator and artist Lesyk Panasiuk is travelling through the United States as part of the second Versopolis Transatlantic Exchange. His tour marks the European-to-American leg of an exchange that will continue with an American poet’s visit to Europe in 2027.

Following the inaugural exchange involving Volha Hapeyeva and Rachel DeWoskin, Versopolis continues to develop connections between literary communities on both sides of the Atlantic. The programme creates opportunities for poets to share their work with unfamiliar audiences, encounter different literary environments and build relationships through readings, translation and conversation.

This second exchange begins with Lesyk Panasiuk’s U.S. tour, organised and supported by Razom for Ukraine and the Versopolis USA Mobility Programme. Running from 26 October to 6 November 2026, the itinerary brings contemporary Ukrainian poetry to universities and literary venues across six American cities.

Panasiuk is a Ukrainian poet, translator, artist and designer, as well as a serving member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. His first collection available in English, Letters of the Alphabet Go to War, was published by Sarabande Books in 2026 in a bilingual edition translated by Katie Farris and Ilya Kaminsky. Drawing on his experience of life in Bucha during Russia’s war against Ukraine, the collection examines how violence enters language, disrupting the words and forms through which people understand their surroundings.

For an international audience, encountering this poetry also means encountering the work of translation: the decisions through which an individual voice, its rhythms and its fractured landscapes become accessible in another language. The tour offers space to consider these questions through direct exchange with the author, connecting the reading of Ukrainian poetry with conversations about memory, wartime experience and artistic expression.

The programme includes the following stops:

• 26 October — University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
• 28 October — Poets House, New York: Poet as Witness, with Yaryna Chornohuz.
• 30 October — Yale University, New Haven: Language Is Wounded: Poetry, Memory, and Being Human in Wartime Ukraine.
• 1 November — Ukrainian National Home, New York: Ukrainian Poetry Outburst, with Eugene Hutz and Yaryna Chornohuz.
• 3 November — Colgate University, Hamilton: reading and conversation.
• 5 November — Cornell University, Ithaca: reading with Dunya Mikhail.
• 6 November — Princeton University, Princeton: a visit to Ilya Kaminsky’s class.

Panasiuk’s journey is the first leg of this second exchange. The reciprocal visit from the United States to Europe is planned for 2027, continuing the programme’s commitment to movement in both directions and to sustained contact between European and American poetry communities.

Following their respective visits, both participating poets will be interviewed about their experiences. A podcast will also explore the exchange, opening its conversations to listeners beyond the host venues. These reflections will consider what changes when poetry reaches a new audience, what poets learn from different literary communities and how the relationships established during a visit might develop afterwards.

Through this continuing programme, Versopolis places the encounter between poets, translators and readers at the centre of international literary cooperation. Each journey offers a starting point for further reading, future translations and conversations that can continue long after the tour ends.