The war in Donbass has been going on for eight years already, and during this time dozens of authors have appeared, for whom these events have become a creative impulse.
They perceive and comprehend the difficult moments of history not through the prism of news, but through prose and poetry.
However, until recently, their names were not known to a wide range of Russians, they did not have the opportunity to publish in large numbers or perform at large venues.
RT tried to correct this situation and collected the most outstanding works of modern front-line poets and poetesses.
Poet Maria Vatutina
RT
The collection "Poetry of the Russian Summer" includes poems, poems and poetic cycles by 25 authors, on which they have been working for the past eight years.
Among them are Anna Dolgareva, Maria Vatutina, Igor Karaulov, Semyon Pegov, Valentin Gorshenin and Anna Revyakina.
The illustrations for the book were made by the artist Ilya Pozharov.
According to the compilers of the collection, the publication is a unique attempt to unite those who have always known that the “Russian spring” will be followed by the “Russian summer”.
The book was presented on October 5 at the Academy Concert Hall in Moscow.
According to the editor-in-chief of RT Margarita Simonyan, some of the poems included in the collection are not inferior to individual samples of the best front-line poetry of the Great Patriotic War, "which we learned by heart at school and many still remember."
“It seemed unfair to me that little is known about this, that our wonderful new poets are not passed at school.
I do not see any huge circulations, store shelves, where these collections of each one or all together would stand in the best places.
Therefore, we decided to publish this collection,” explained Margarita Simonyan.
Before the poets and musicians took the stage, the editor-in-chief of RT read out a greeting from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He called the Donetsk and Lugansk militia, volunteers and servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation the real heroes of our time, who did not allow an open genocide.
“We honor their resilience and courage.
We defend the truth about the liberation of Zaporozhye and Kherson region, about the eight-year war in the Donbass People's Republics, the coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014 and the tragic events in Kyiv and Odessa.
Your poetic evening also serves this lofty goal, ”the appeal said.
The President also thanked the participants and guests of the ZOV evening for their indifference, sincere creativity and active civil, patriotic position.
The co-host of the evening, the writer Zakhar Prilepin, emphasized that literature and music are the historical memory of the people: “If some events are not displayed in literature and music, they are not recorded in the national memory.
We have a very large number of battles, victories and defeats in our national history, but we remember what is displayed in the literature.
If this is recorded in literature, it becomes part of the national consciousness and, moreover, the most important component of the future victory.
My absolute conviction is that if there were no songs of the Great Patriotic War ... we would not have received 1945.
Writer Zakhar Prilepin
RT
The poet Anna Dolgareva, who was the first to read her poems, repeatedly visited the Donbass as a military correspondent.
According to her, events such as the RT ZOV poetry evening and collections such as Poetry of the Russian Summer are needed now "like air, like hope."
“I started writing more seriously,” she shared with RT.
— Unfortunately, this is the personal and spiritual growth of the writer.
The more you let something terrible through yourself, the deeper the colors of your poems, the more mature you yourself and your poems.
Some of the authors whose works were included in the collection, in particular Yegor Voronov and Alexander Sigida, could not attend the poetry evening, because they are now in the Donbass: they are fighting as part of the People's Militia of the DPR.
Django, one of the musicians who performed at the evening, has come to perform in front of the fighters eight times since the beginning of the SVO.
“In general, I have been going to Donbass regularly since 2015.
When I return from there, I always feel that we are fighting for the Motherland.
This battle is going on at all levels.
And now I consider culture, and information, and the minds of people, but more importantly, their hearts, as a battlefield.
Therefore, all those who write songs should try to reach out to the heart and soul of a person, ”he told RT.
In addition to Django, other musicians who have traveled to Donbass for the past eight years have come to support the poets.
Among them are Alexander F. Sklyar and the Va-Bank group, St. John's wort, Utah, Sergey Galanin and the SerGa group.
Group "St. John's wort"
RT
Violinist Pyotr Lundstrem, who performed at the ZOV evening with pianist Valentina Lisitsa, believes that people yearn not only for genuine art, but also for genuine things.
“Of course, the request (and in my opinion, this is the cry of the people) is audible, tangible.
It's amazing that such a number of new names gave us this hardest moment.
But, like any crisis, like any line that our people go through, it always gives the opportunity for a certain breakthrough.
The cultural and information front can be at least as important as the front that takes place directly on the front line.
The poet Olga Starushko believes that the attention of creative people to their problems is important for the fighters and residents of the liberated territories - they act as a link with the “mainland”, from which the Donbass was cut off until recently.
“No matter what anyone says that during such severe trials, perhaps, there is no place for festive events, but the teams of the Bolshoi Theater went to the front and sang operas there!
Everything is appropriate if it is done with dignity, with a sense of proportion, with tact, ”she added.
Anna Revyakina, who read several of her poems from the stage, also emphasized that the ZOV evening was not of an entertaining nature: “This is not some kind of vaudeville.
This is an evening of military poetry, military lyrics.
Moreover, those texts that sound today are just right for the new reality, this new time in which we live.”
Poetry of the Russian summer
According to the politician, economist Sergei Glazyev, it is necessary to continue the poetic evenings of people who saw the war with their own eyes and continue to defend their land: “After all, the most important thing on the battlefield is fortitude.
And the fact that you raised the issue of front-line poetry, modern military poetry, I think is very timely and important.
It really helps a lot of people to find meaning — the meaning of the struggle for which our guys are dying, of that great idea of liberating the Russian world and, in general, all of humanity from the Nazi beast.”
Maria Zakharova, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who attended the evening, called the poems presented in the collection poetry written with a bleeding heart: “This blood also dripped onto the lines, and therefore they are so piercing.”
“People who really deeply know their country, people, culture, feel it, empathize ... they never had large-scale support.
They could talk, and sometimes they were even invited somewhere.
And so, so that for real, so that they become, in a good sense, mouthpieces, tribunes, lawyers of their country - well, probably, truly all-turning events had to happen for this, ”she added.
As Margarita Simonyan said, she will do everything in her power to support the authors and their opportunity to be heard and read by the audience.
The book can be purchased on the RT SHOP website.
Proceeds from the sale will go to help the heroes of the RT Children of War project.
The full recording of the poetry evening will soon appear on RT.