Odesa Library

“Odesa Library” is a joint publishing project of the publishing organization JSC “PLASKE” and the Worldwide Club of Odesites. The series features the literary, artistic, historical and local-history almanac “Deribasovskaya, Rishelyevskaya”, as well as books by Odesa writers and poets, both classical and contemporary, historians and local researchers. Each book in the series is carefully selected and, traditionally, is published simultaneously with a new issue of the almanac, giving readers the opportunity to build a complete collection of the series.

The first two books in the series are dedicated to the work of Isaac Babel. For the first time, one volume brought together “Red Cavalry”, the writer’s diary from the years of the Civil War, and illustrations by Yefim Ladyzhensky. Babel is also the subject of Rostislav Aleksandrov’s essays on the prototypes of the characters in “Odessa Stories”.

The poetry line of the series was launched with Yefim Yaroshevsky’s collection “Cold Wind”, later published in an expanded edition under the title “The Cold Wind of the South”. The history of the Odesa Theatre’s ballet company is explored in Irina Kuznetsova’s book “Odesa. Theatre. Ballet”. Anatoliy Gorbatyuk’s memoirs, “Although Jazz Was Not Born in Odesa…”, are filled with nostalgia and dedicated to Odesa’s jazz tradition.

Particular attention was drawn to two editions prepared by Yevgen Golubovsky together with staff members of the Odesa Literary Museum: “The Workshop of People”, a collection of works by dystopian writer Yefim Zozulya, and “Odesa, Odesites and Odesite Women”, a book by feuilletonist and critic Vlas Doroshevich.

To mark the 120th anniversary of Konstantin Paustovsky’s birth, a volume entitled “A Time of Great Hopes” was published in cooperation with the Literary Museum. It brings together everything the writer wrote about Odesa: stories, diaries and letters.

A unique collection of autographs belonging to historical figures, founders and the first residents of Odesa was assembled and commented on by local historian Oleh Gubar in his book “Autographs of Odesa”.

Director Iosif Raikhelgauz shared his memories of theatrical life in Odesa in his book “The Odesa Book”.

Local historian Yakiv Maistrovoy spent many years compiling a comprehensive record of information about the streets of Odesa, whose names have changed repeatedly over more than two centuries. The result was the book “The History of Odesa in Street Names”.

Contemporary prose is represented by Serhii Ryadchenko’s book “Saturday for a Human Being”.

The series also includes a work by Professor Valentyn Maksymenko devoted to the history of the Odesa Theatre’s opera company, its most outstanding productions, and the renowned vocalists, conductors and directors who worked on its celebrated stage.

The books in the series are published simultaneously with each new issue of the “Deribasovskaya, Rishelyevskaya” almanac, giving readers the opportunity to build a complete collection of “Odesa Library” editions.