LANA KULYK: My Book Burrs Is Like a Record Of The Journey I've Walked

Lana Kulyk is a Ukrainian writer, author of Swan Love, The Adventures of Hedgehog, and the collection Burrs. She is currently developing the literary agency Lit_Agency_Phoenix, which aims to represent Ukrainian authors abroad.

Lana shared insights with Drive Music Media about the beginning of her writing journey, the Burrs collection, and her own literary agency.

Interviewer: How and when did your writing journey begin? What inspired you to enter this field?

Lana: My writing journey began with a creative writing course I took here in England. During the class, I read my texts about life in a boarding school and received a lot of positive feedback. After that, the idea to write the book Burrs came to me. Later, I discovered Amazon and realized I could self-publish, without waiting for a publishing house to take notice. Alongside my main work at school, I learned how to design books. My first attempt was a fairy tale about a little Hedgehog that I had written back in 5th grade. I still have the original.

Interviewer: Tell us about your fairy-tale legend Swan Love and the meanings you embedded in it. How long did you work on it? What did you feel when it was published in Indigo magazine?

Lana: Writing has always been one of the most important activities for me since childhood. Growing up in an unreliable family with many problems, without psychologists or adults to guide me, I intuitively created a therapeutic way for myself to release anger, tears, and sadness. Even in school, during foreign literature lessons, gym, or geometry, while no one was watching, I wrote poems for my mom, sister, and brothers. I participated in various contests. My “Letter to Mom,” which is included in my collection Burrs, was written when I was 16. At that age, it was published in the local newspaper of Konotop. Later, it was submitted to a regional contest where it won second place.

My fairy-tale legend Swan Love was written when I was 14. I remember that I had tonsillitis, stayed in the hospital for over two weeks, and nobody came to visit me. I felt so lonely. That’s when I created this story and several other unpublished tales. After publishing The Adventures of Hedgehog, I decided to also publish Swan Love. I really love the illustrations I made with AI. I slightly revised the story itself — the ending was originally sadder. In the original, the flock of swans abandoned the girl, and she remained alone, turning into a willow tree. I slightly adjusted the ending, added more setting — situating it in Putivl, Sumy region, where I studied in a pedagogical college. The landscapes there are incredible, especially the fast-flowing Seim River. It felt like the perfect place for these events. Now the ending is a bit happier and fits our present time.

When Swan Love was published in Indigo magazine, I didn’t feel huge emotions yet because I haven’t received the magazine myself — it’s still in Ukraine. I’m just waiting for the right moment to have it delivered here.

Interviewer: What is the most challenging and the easiest part of being a writer for you? Why?

Lana: For me, the easiest part of writing is writing itself. I have tons of ideas; I just need time to write. The hardest part is actually selling my work, my books, and my stories. I would love to have someone to handle that for me — just selling, negotiating, handling marketing — while I sit and write, enjoying the process and the results. That’s the level I aspire to.

Interviewer: Which of your stories is the most special to you? Why?

Lana: All my stories are very special to me. For example, The Adventures of Hedgehog reminds me of myself as a little girl. I have no childhood photos, so these scribbles on paper about Hedgehog are my proof of my childhood. Swan Love reminds me of a difficult period, my teenage years of loneliness, when I faced many hardships in my family and personal life. My book Burrs is also a record of the path I’ve walked. Each book is very special, close, and dear to me — like a little child, a piece of myself.

Interviewer: What projects are you currently working on?

Lana: Currently, I am working on developing the literary agency Lit_Agency_Phoenix, whose goal is to represent Ukrainian authors abroad. We help Ukrainian authors connect with publishers in England, Poland, and other countries. The agency has only been operating for about a month, but we are already collaborating with several authors. I am also working on a collection of humorous works, planned to be published in English. This collection features Ukrainian authors’ humorous stories and will show Ukraine from a different perspective to the English-speaking audience.

Interviewer: When and how did you decide to step beyond a Ukrainian-speaking audience and start writing in English? Can you share your experience and talk about the books you publish in English?

Lana: There were no strict boundaries for me since I live in England in an English-speaking environment. It makes sense to publish in English right away. So whenever I published a book in Ukrainian, I also released it in English.

Interviewer: As a Ukrainian writer, what mission do you have? Why this particular mission?

Lana:  My goal, not only as a writer but also as a citizen of Ukraine, is to promote Ukrainian literature, encourage parents to read Ukrainian books to their children, to read Ukrainian literature themselves, enrich their language, reduce the use of russisms, and motivate children to read. I want to elevate Ukrainian literature to a higher level and bring quality Ukrainian works to world literature.

Interviewer: If you had to associate your books with a single word, what would it be? Why that word?

Lana: Perhaps I didn’t want to say this at first, but it seems that my books are associated with the word “orphanage” because most of my published stories were written about or in boarding schools. Now my goal is to move away from this. I want to start a new era, a new chapter, as my writing plans are no longer related to this word. My focus now is on new, fun, humorous, or fantastic stories.

Pictures were provided by Lana Kulyk