27 August 2025
(Poet Andriy Hayetskyi. PHOTO: Natalia Dovbysh/Intent)
On August 30-31, Odesa will host the first literary festival to showcase contemporary Ukrainian literature and culture from the south of the country. The organizers promise more than 35 events, including poetry readings, music and poetry performances, workshops and a fair.
This was discussed on the air of Intent.Insight on August 26, which was dedicated to this cultural event.
According to Andriy Hayetskyi, program director of the PORT Literary Festival and a well-known Odesa poet, the event will take place on August 30-31 on Pastera Street, at the National Scientific Library and the Odesa Academic Puppet Theater. The main goal of the event is to turn a word into an event and create a platform for new meanings in contemporary Ukrainian literature.
"It is a great honor and a challenge for me to become part of a new festival where new traditions will be created," said Khayetsky.
He emphasized the importance of supporting culture in the south of Ukraine, where part of the coast is currently under occupation. Intent was the media partner of the festival.
The PORT Festival brings together writers and poets from all over Ukraine, including Odesa, Kherson, Melitopol and Crimea. Particular attention is paid to the southern region and Crimean Tatar culture, which will be presented through theCrimean Figs contest and almanac.
The festival program will include more than 35 events: literary and musical performances, essay and poetry workshops, book presentations, a fair and master classes. One of the key events will be the musical and poetic performance "United by the Sea" dedicated to the sailors who have been missing since the spring of 2022. The audience will be able to try the format of the Vuh Theater, when performances are perceived by ear without eye contact.
Among the festival participants are Max Kidruk, Svitlana Taratorina, Kateryna Kalytko, Yevhen Lir, Volodymyr Yarmolenko, Tetiana Harkova and others. The music stage will feature performances by Kryhidka, Kolor, Chumatsky Shlyakh and Odesa-based singer Okolytsia.
The safety of guests during air raids is a priority for the organizers. Events will be stopped and visitors will be escorted to shelters in the library, and volunteers have taken first aid courses.
The festival is funded by the International Renaissance Foundation and the Ukrainian Book Institute, with Yegor Gebennikov as the general partner, and the Razom Charitable Foundation, Kernel, and Bank Vostok among its partners.
Khayetsky emphasized that PORT should become an annual festival, creating new traditions and emphasizing the multiculturalism of Odesa. The main focus is to inspire young and adult audiences to create new texts and meanings in contemporary literature.
Recently, Intent spoke with literary critic Yevhen Stasinevych. He believes that the idea that language determines everything in culture belongs to the past. The conversation touched on Gogol, biographical literature, the "Executed Renaissance" sticker, and the special Kharkiv atmosphere.
Анна Бальчінос