A Handful of Earth: Poetry and Painting from Ukraine

Un puñado de tierra: Poesía y pintura de Ucrania is presented as a bilingual (Spanish–Ukrainian) anthology designed to introduce readers to Ukraine’s literary voice alongside its visual art tradition. Compiled and translated by Luis Gómez de Aranda and Olena Kúrchenko, the selection brings together poems from the 19th and 20th centuries (including currents often described as realism and romanticism) as well as contemporary authors read and published in the 21st century. 

The editorial concept is clear: Ukraine is frequently discussed in Western media, yet its poetry and painting remain comparatively unknown to many Spanish-speaking readers. This volume answers that gap by offering an accessible, curated map of themes that run through Ukrainian culture—land and landscape, memory and history, love and loss, resistance and self-definition—while keeping the original Ukrainian text present for bilingual reading or language study. 

A distinctive feature is the dialogue between verse and image. Several listings note that the book is illustrated with paintings by Ukrainian visual artists, drawn from the collection of the National Art Museum of Ukraine, and that quality and cultural significance guided the choice of creators. This makes the book feel less like a “single-genre” anthology and more like a compact cultural exhibit in book form: poems you can read, and artworks that frame the emotional and historical context around them.

For customers looking for Ukrainian literature in Spain, for bilingual households, or for readers who want a curated introduction beyond headlines, Un puñado de tierra works as both a giftable art book and a serious anthology—rooted in translation craft and anchored by a prologue credited to Luis Alberto de Cuenca.