The “Deribasivska–Richelieu” almanac reaches its 100th issue

About the event

On September 3 at 4:00 p.m., the Golden Hall of the Odesa Literary Museum will bring together those for whom Deribasivska Street and the corner of Richelieu Street mean more than simply the intersection of two streets. The Worldwide Club of Odesites presents the 100th, anniversary issue of its almanac, which has been published since 2000 and has never, even in the most difficult times, fallen silent.

The name for the new publication, conceived by Felix Kokhriсht, Yevhen Holubovskyi and Oleh Hubar, was suggested over a cup of coffee at one of Odesa’s cafés by Vladyslav Vaisman, a collector and CEO of Micron. The first issue of the almanac was published on June 16, 2000, and its very first article was devoted to Deribasivska Street. Thus began the editorial course that the publication has followed for twenty-six years. In 2005, Oleh Platonov took the almanac under his wing together with PLASKE, which has since become its long-standing business and creative partner and remains the almanac’s founder and publisher today.

Since then, the almanac was published four times a year, and since the beginning of the full-scale war, under the sound of air-raid alerts, twice a year. Yet it has never fallen silent. Fifteen years later, bibliographers named it a record-holder among Odesa publications of its kind. By the 60th issue, Mikhail Zhvanetsky, already a regular contributor to the almanac, had sent his famous greeting, “Guys, everything is fine with you,” lines that are published again in the 100th issue alongside a photograph of the club’s president holding him in his arms at the club on Marazliivska Street.

The editorial team has dedicated the 100th issue to the memory of Oleh Hubar and Yevhen Holubovskyi, without whom this journey could never have begun. It once again features the names of contributors to the first issue — Tetiana Shchurova, Mykhailo Poizner, Oleksandr Halias and Valentyn Maksymenko — as well as poems by poets who are no longer with us.

A special event of the presentation will be the awards ceremony for the winners of the International Literary Short Story Competition “Odessiada,” organized by Huxley.media magazine together with the Worldwide Club of Odesites. The competition received 102 stories from authors in different cities of Ukraine and other countries, with the entries evaluated in two stages. The first prize went to Yaroslav Sydorenko from Kropyvnytskyi for his story “Why Doesn’t God Play Dominoes in Moldavanka,” the second to Anna Mikhalevska from Odesa for “I, Viennese,” and the third to Liza Azvalinska from Philadelphia for “Uncle Senya.” All three stories are published in the anniversary issue, and the competition, held during a challenging time for the country, has already introduced new literary voices to Odesa.

We thank Zhanna Kryuchkova, the Charitable Foundation “Intellectual Capital,” Huxley magazine and Stikon for their comprehensive support of the publication and for the initiative to create “Odessiada.” It is thanks to this partnership that the almanac has gained a new lease of life, while Odesa literature, even during the war, has found new voices.

The presentation will feature greetings from Odesa’s acting mayor Ihor Koval, honorary citizen of the city Serhii Hrynevetskyi, and Literary Museum director Tetiana Liptuha. At the piano, Yevhen Lukashov will perform a medley of Odesa melodies, and there will also be a presentation about the work on an article about Vladimir Jabotinsky. We will honor the authors and partners without whom this journey would have been different.

We look forward to welcoming everyone in the Golden Hall who holds our city and its word dear.