Ukrainian Daughter's Dance

by Marion Mutala

Poetry. Women's Studies. The rich and varied poems in Ukrainian Daughter's Dance speak to the heart as they document a woman's life journey, as a Ukrainian-Canadian, and as a prairie woman, and her voyage of self-discovery. Her story can be anyone's story. Poems explore issues of immigrant identity and voice in the prairies, and celebrate a cultural heritage expressed through song, dance, art, work and life.

"Marion Mutala writes with tender grace. Her poems are wide-ranging, vivid, real, and intimate. Open this book and prepare to enter the world of a true Ukrainian Daughter, dancing barefoot in the black dirt."

—Alice Kuipers, author of Life on the Refrigerator Door

"Marion Mutala has a way of forming captivating rhythms of words that dance around in my mind, joyfully creating extraordinary images as I read."

—Carey Rigby-Wilcox, Award-winning Author and Illustrator

Genres: Poetry, Canada

80 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2016

About the author

Marion Mutala has a master’s degree in education administration and taught for 30 years. With a mad passion for the arts she loves to write, sing, folkdance, play guitar, garden, travel, and read. She is the author of the bestselling and award-winning children’s book trilogy, Baba’s Babushka: A Magical Ukrainian Christmas, Baba’s Babushka: A Magical Ukrainian Easter, and Baba’s Babushka: A Magical Ukrainian Wedding. Her fourth book, Grateful was published in 2014 and another children’s book, Kohkom’s Babushka: A Magical Ukrainian/Aboriginal Legend, is forthcoming in 2016. Ukrainian Daughter’s Dance is her debut poetry collection.

Reviews

[Samantha Ternovetsky Pike]

The use of certain words really put me off. Examples being the Russian spelling of borshch, the usage of babushka for khustka, kielbasa for kovbasa and "pedahay" even though they used the correct word later in the same poem. That specific poem ironically ends with "rich culture and traditions. Proud Ukrainians."
The poems themselves are structured poorly and often written with poor grammar.

[Melanie]

I really liked the Ukrainian content and thought it was quite evocative. The style of poetry in this book, however, isn't to my taste. It's quite basic and homely, and didn't resonate with me in that way.