Denmark is preparing the first-ever anthology of Taras Shevchenko’s poetry in Danish. The collection will include 13 selected works from Kobzar, presenting Shevchenko not only as Ukraine’s national poet but also as a humanist and thinker of European stature.
The project is being implemented by the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation in partnership with the Danish-Ukrainian Society and the Danish organization Hjælp Ukrainske Børn (Help Ukrainian Children). The initiative continues a long-standing cultural partnership between Ukraine and Denmark. Notably, the Danish-Ukrainian Society initiated and helped build a monument to Shevchenko in Copenhagen in 2010.
A ceremony honoring Shevchenko’s memory on March 8 near the monument marked the symbolic launch of the project. Translator Ksenia Fitisova-Frost read a Danish translation of Shevchenko’s poem “Zapovit” (“Testament”) for the first time.
“We want to introduce Shevchenko to Danish readers as a European humanist and poetic thinker whose voice resonates within the Danish cultural context while also speaking to the conflicts of our time,” said Karsten Hammer, literary editor of the project, professor at University College Copenhagen, and honorary professor at Poltava National Pedagogical University.
“For Danish readers who may know Shevchenko only as Ukraine’s ‘national poet,’ this anthology aims to present him as a moral witness who, through poetry, challenged empires, oppression, and the loss of human dignity,” Hammer added.
Project producer Lesia Ignatyk-Eriksen, head of the Hjælp Ukrainske Børn (Help Ukrainian Children) organization in Denmark, said the initiative aims to introduce Shevchenko as both Ukraine’s national poet and a European humanist and moral thinker.
“In many ways, his ideas can be compared with those of Danish thinker Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig. Just as Grundtvig played a key role in shaping Danish identity and public education in the 19th century, Shevchenko became a decisive voice in the national and cultural awakening of Ukrainians,” she said.
The project team includes literary editor Karsten Hammer, translator Ksenia Fitisova-Frost, producer Lesia Ignatyk-Eriksen, Oksana Smerek, Liudmyla Valler, and Danish poet Martha Elias, who is working on the poetic adaptation. The project is curated by Yaryna Yasynevych from the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation and Bo Gullak Flindt from the Danish-Ukrainian Society.
Key consultants on the Ukrainian side include writer Oksana Zabuzhko and artist and art historian Rostyslav Luzhetskyi.
The first translated poems are expected to be presented at public events in Denmark this spring, including around the anniversary of the first edition of Kobzar, published on April 26, 1840.
“We are implementing this project together with the Danish-Ukrainian Society, which once initiated the installation of the Taras Shevchenko monument in Copenhagen. It is highly symbolic for us: in 2010 Shevchenko gained a physical presence in Denmark, and now his voice will be heard in Danish,” said Artem Mykolaichuk, chairman of the foundation’s board.
“The anthology is organized thematically to show the breadth of Shevchenko’s work, from lyrical poems about home, humanity, and nature to foundational texts on freedom, historical memory, and human dignity,” said Yaryna Yasynevych, program director of the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation.
The translations are being made directly from the Ukrainian original by Ksenia Fitisova-Frost, a Ukrainian-Danish translator.
“Translating Shevchenko into Danish is not only about poetry. It’s about giving Danish readers the chance to hear a voice that has shaped Ukrainians’ understanding of freedom and dignity for generations,” Fitisova-Frost said.
