Irene Zabytko
photo credit: Karen K
Irene Zabytko is the Ukrainian-American author of THE SKY UNWASHED, a novel set against the backdrop of the Chernobyl explosion, and WHEN LUBA LEAVES HOME: STORIES, a set of interrelated short stories based on a Ukrainian neighborhood in Chicago.
Her short stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies and her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, and elsewhere. She received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award in Ukraine for an upcoming novel based on the life of Nikolai Gogol. She holds a BA and an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College.
Books
THE DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDER
In 1992, just after the fall of the Soviet Union, a Ukrainian-American woman travels to Ukraine and boards a bus on an unlikely pilgrimage. In a manner reminiscent of the Canterbury Tales, the passengers–a swimmer, an artist, an interrogator, and more–tell extraordinary stories of ordinary people caught between Soviet realities and newly independent dreams. THE DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDER is a timely glimpse into the complexities of balancing political pressures, collective responsibilities, and individual happiness.
