On June 17, the “Sens” bookstore on Khreshchatyk hosted the presentation of the first Ukrainian translation of Agatha Christie’s autobiography—a book the author worked on for 15 years and which literary scholars consider one of the most important works in her body of work.
According to a reporter from the culture desk of the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency reporting from the scene, the event was attended by Svitlana Stretovych, founder and editor-in-chief of Stretovych Publishing House; literary scholar and publisher Rostyslav Semkiv; and translator Roksana Shevchuk, who spoke about the work involved in producing the first Ukrainian edition of Agatha Christie’s autobiography, the nuances of the translation, and the book’s significance for today’s readers.
“Mystery fans often say that Agatha Christie was the queen of the genre, but many consider her autobiography to be her strongest work. It offers insight into her perspective on life, people, and the era in which she lived,” Stretovych emphasized during the presentation.
The idea to publish Agatha Christie’s autobiography in Ukrainian came from Svitlana Stretovych, founder and editor-in-chief of Stretovych Publishing. According to her, the idea came to her unexpectedly after one of the book presentations.
“It just occurred to me one evening: has Agatha Christie’s autobiography been translated into Ukrainian? I was convinced it had. But the next day we started checking and it turned out there was no Ukrainian translation. So we immediately began searching for the rights holders,” Stretovych told the agency.
According to the publisher, negotiations to acquire the rights lasted several weeks. The process was complicated by the fact that Agatha Christie’s detective novels have been published in Ukraine by KSD for many years, so the rights holders first had to determine whether the author’s current Ukrainian publisher planned to release the autobiography.
Stretovich noted that the publishing house deliberately chose the autobiography, as biographies and memoirs are one of the key areas of its work.
“We were specifically interested in the autobiography. We didn’t plan to publish the detective novels, since another Ukrainian publisher handles that. Biographical literature, on the other hand, is one of our publishing house’s main areas of focus, so this book fits perfectly into our concept,” she said.
The book’s initial print run was 3,000 copies. The publication is nearly 800 pages long, and its current price is 750 UAH. However, according to Stretovich, the actual cost of the project is significantly higher due to the large volume of translation and preparatory work.
Finding a translator was a story in itself. According to the publisher, the team was looking not only for a professional specialist but also for someone who shared their values. An unexpected turn of events proved decisive when translator Roksana Shevchuk mentioned one of the publishing house’s books on social media almost at the same time.
“I took it as a sign and immediately wrote to Roksana with an offer to translate Agatha Christie. She agreed,” Stretovich said.
Translator Roksana Shevchuk told the agency that work on the Ukrainian edition took five months. According to her, the translation proved to be much more complex than usual work with a literary text, since it involved not only conveying the content but also recreating Agatha Christie’s own voice.
“Technically, it took five months. The war was constantly echoing both in the book and in my personal life. While I was working on it, my godson was killed in the Sumy region, and I was in the middle of translating the chapters about World War II. At a certain point, I had to take a break,” the translator said.
According to her, what impressed her most was the author’s ability to remain optimistic even after the most difficult trials in life.
“At a certain point in Agatha Christie’s life, she had suffered a tremendous number of losses. But even during the darkest times, she never lost her faith in people, her sense of humor, or her love of life. That’s what impressed me the most,” Shevchuk noted.
The translator is convinced that the autobiography is relevant to modern Ukrainian readers as well, since it speaks to a person’s ability to weather crises and start over.
“This book makes you want to be a better person. It teaches you not to be afraid to dream, not to set limits for yourself, and to keep searching for who you are, regardless of your age,” she said.
Literary scholar and publisher Rostyslav Semkiv called the book one of the most fascinating autobiographies in world literature.
“This is not just the life story of a famous writer. It is the success story of a person who is now ranked alongside Shakespeare in terms of popularity and print runs. Here you can see how she worked on her texts, communicated with publishers, overcame creative crises, and learned to write,” said Semkiv.
According to him, this very book served as one of the sources for his work on the craft of writing.
“When I was working on the book *How the Classics Wrote*, Agatha Christie’s autobiography formed the basis for the chapter about her. It contains a lot of practical advice for authors and, at the same time, is a very captivating human story,” he noted.
Semkiv expressed his conviction that the Ukrainian edition will be a success among readers.
“There are many fans of the mystery genre and of Agatha Christie herself in Ukraine. I think readers have been waiting for this book for a long time,” he said.
During the presentation, it was also emphasized that the team worked to preserve the atmosphere of the British era while making the text feel natural to Ukrainian readers. Significant attention was paid to historical explanations, footnotes, and cultural context.
Participants at the event described the autobiography as a book about the courage to live, to make mistakes, to lose, and to start over. That is why, nearly half a century after the author’s death, her personal story continues to find new readers around the world.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1177587.html
Agatha_Christie, Agatha_Christie_in_Ukrainian, CULTURE, роксана_шевчук, ростислав_семків, світлана_стретович
