Many famous writers had to combine creativity with other work. Medicine, pedagogy, military service…. Ybrai Altynsarin was a teacher, Mark Twain was a journalist, Alexander Griboyedov was a diplomat. Modern Kazakhstan has such an example as well. Kazakhstani writer Yuri Serebriansky in Poland is better known as a culturologist and editor of the Polish diaspora magazine. His books are in the National Library of Warsaw, as well as in libraries and school programs in Kazakhstan. “Destination. A Road Pastoral” and “Prazhaki” won the “Russian Prize” in 2010 and 2014; “Kazakhstani Fairytales” won best bilingual book status at the “Along the Great Silk Road” exhibition. “Black Star” was written in co-authorship with Bakhytzhan Momyshuly – a precedent when one of the co-authors is not alive. The book “About tasty and healthy Kazakhstani literature” was included in the list of thirty important books of the country. In this interview Yuriy shared his successes at home and abroad.
You have a very peculiar biography. Higher education as an ecologist led you to work as a guide in Thailand. Later there was the chief editorship in Esquire, master’s and post-graduate studies in Poland, now – scientific and translation activities. At the same time, in Kazakhstan you are still known as a writer. How did it happen?
I have been publishing since 2006. Plenty of time has passed since then, I have achieved something, and all this time I had to do something simultaneously, of course. Today my eight book are published in Kazakhstan and abroad, there is poetry, prose, children’s literature, non-fiction.
As for the facts of biography, to all of the above I would add trading on the flea market in the nineties and pioneer childhood. All together is a life experience, the basis for most of the stories.
You often represent Kazakhstan at major international literary forums, such as one of the oldest festivals in Europe, Struga Poetry Evenings in Northern Macedonia, where poets from Joseph Brodsky to Allen Ginsberg made their mark. But Poland also plays a big role in your life, doesn’t it?
There was a moment when I thought about moving there. Everything was close to me: humor, sadness, people. I decided to take a thorough approach, to study the attitude to the language, as everyone in the family speaks Russian. I could not think of anything better than to apply for a doctoral program. Moreover, the topic was approved, and this is how the study of the Russian language status in modern Poland began. In addition to my scientific interest, there was also a mercantile interest in figuring out how my teenage daughter would feel in case of a possible removal. It is clear that since the beginning of the research the situation has changed very much. Ukrainian refugees, many bilinguals or speakers of Russian language, but not of Russian culture, ended up in Poland.
Ted talk on “The Russian language is our colonial heritage. The decision is ours”, 2023
What is the difference between Kazakhstan and Poland for you?
There is almost none. After all, a lot happened at home too: the January events, the impact of the war nearby – and the sudden realization that Polish and Kazakhstani are in no way two realities, but one space. There is the distance of an eight-hour flight. But how many of them have there been already? I cannot count. When the driver in Olsztyn tells the same stories that I have already heard from the cab driver on the way to the airport from home in Almaty. But home, with the natural signs of home, is in Almaty. There is no need to buy salt and sugar, they are in the cupboard.
You are now teaching at the University of Warmia and Mazury. What does this bring to your art?
I am used to traveling, long moments of silence, hiking. Meetings and classes with students precisely imply frequent long journeys. Observing people is a true trait of a writer, which goes hand in hand with cosmopolitanism.
“Tram runs on a regular schedule” book
Your publications have appeared in Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, the USA and Chile, and your poems have been translated into nine languages. You have managed to work with two of the world’s largest publishers – Palgrave and Lexington. In 2021, a book of poems “Prose” was published in Russia in “Free Poetry” publishing house. And at the end of last year another one came out, this time in Ukraine, in the Kiev publishing house “Oleg Fyodorov‘s Drukarski Dvir”. What is lying behind it?
The choice of country happened for a reason. It is not only because of a deep respect and love for Kiev, but also a completely natural event: work with the Russian language leads from Poland to Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Russian is one of the global languages, and the war has strongly catalyzed this process.
The new book “Tram runs on a regular schedule” consists of short stories and novellas set in different geographical and temporal settings. Perhaps, looking as if from the outside allows to dissect the present and the past of the homeland in a less painful way. It is important to understand why, despite the fact that everyone remembers Soviet childhood so fondly – compotes, ties, dachas – this past provides so much evil. For me, the answer is that we lived on a mountain of skulls without realizing it. We did not want to look under our feet. That mountain was growing, but we thought we were growing. That is just one answer, of course.
What the book has to do with trams? Nostalgia for good old Alma-Ata?
That is the name of one of the stories about Gdansk, and when the book was being prepared, Boris Markovsky, editor-in-chief of the legendary “Khreshchatyk”, the series the book is published in, suggested that the whole collection should be called like that. I also found somewhere a photo of an Almaty tram which appeared on the cover. I thought it was a symbolic return of the tram to Almaty, especially since Gdansk in the story is Kazakhstani. The circle has closed, though still an internal one. The book is coming to Almaty, there will be a presentation. I would like to organize it in a tram, but it is impossible for now.
Yuriy Serebriansky is a Kazakhstani author of Polish origin who writes prose, poetry and translates. He teaches at OLSA and works as an editor for Kazakhstani Polish diaspora magazine “Ałmatyński Kurier Polonijny” and Russian literary magazine “Literratura” (before 2023). His works have been translated into many languages and published in a number of different magazines. Yuriy has been awarded the prize “Russkaya Premia” twice, his book Kazakhstani Fairy Tales was named the best bilingual book for young in 2017.
The Alma Review 