"Voices from Chernobyl" by Ukraine RPCV Spencer Smit performed at the New England Youth Theater
Ukrainian journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed hundreds of survivors of the disaster and in 1997 published many of their stories in a book, "Tchernobylskaia Molitva." In 2006 this was translated from the Russian and published as "Voices from Chernobyl" by the Dalkey Archive Press. In 2007 the book was issued as a paperback by Picador Press.
With the permission of Dalkey Archive, Montpelier writer Spencer Smith has made a readers theater play from six of these testimonies which will be performed at the New England Youth Theater. Audiences have been moved to tears by the words of these survivors as they express in concrete terms the terrible price in human lives paid by those who lived through this nuclear disaster. Smith first became aware of the danger of nuclear power plants in 1979 when the Three Mile Island disaster occurred. Seven years later, the disaster at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine reinforced her concern. From 2001 to 2003 she lived in Ukraine as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer teaching creative writing at a university.
Smith first became aware of the danger of nuclear power plants in 1979 when the Three Mile Island disaster occurred. Seven years later, the disaster at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine reinforced her concern. From 2001 to 2003 she lived in Ukraine as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer teaching creative writing at a university.
During her stay in Ukraine she became even more sensitive to the long-term effects of a nuclear disaster.
A year ago, after reading the book "Voices from Chernobyl," Smith became active in the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance, a North Central Vermont organization seeking to close the Vermont Yankee reactor. She has adapted "Voices from Chernobyl" into a 50-minute readers theater play. Smith returned to Ukraine in 2006 and is currently writing a memoir about her experiences there. For 2008, Smith has been granted a Fulbright award to teach creative writing at Belarus State University in Minsk -- an area especially hard-hit by the Chernobyl disaster. Read more.
Read more about Peace Corps Ukraine.
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