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Home > About Us > Fellowships > Ukrainian Studies Foundation Australia Fellowship > Previous Fellows > 2015: Svitlana Yakavenko

2015: Svitlana Yakavenko

2015 Ukrainian Studies Foundation Fellow, Svitlana Yakavenko

Book manuscript: Ukrainians in Australia and their experience. An example of multiculturalism. What makes them distinctive?

The winner of the inaugural Ukrainian Studies Foundation in Australia Fellowship, Svitlana Yakovenko studied the input of Ukrainian immigrants and their offspring – second and third-generation Ukrainian heritage Australians – into Australian society during the past 65 years. Has Australia's way of life, culture and infrastructures benefited from the Ukrainian experience? Are the newer 21st-century migrants from independent Ukraine different from the so-called 'Balts', the displaced 'labourers', who came here 65 years ago?

A distinct sense of Ukrainian independent national self-identity has been evident throughout the Ukrainian–Australian experience. At the same time, Ukrainians have embraced Australia and its way of life, contributing significantly in many ways. Svitlana examined the experience of Ukrainian settlers, particularly in the context of multiculturalism, and explore their rich literary output, which is characterised by a yearning for national independence and self-determination.

Svitlana Yakavenko is an author, translator and publisher at Sova Books Pty Ltd. She moved to Australia in 1997 on a student-exchange program (between Odesa State University, Ukraine, and Macquarie University, Sydney). Svitlana holds degrees in foreign languages (BA Hons), literature (MA Hons, with a thesis on memoirs of Ukrainians in Australia, Macquarie) and legal studies (Diploma in Law, LPAB Sydney). She has worked as a researcher and editor with a Ukrainian newspaper and publishers in Australia, as a private tutor, and also as a lawyer in one of Australia's leading law firms.

Svitlana is fluent in Ukrainian, English and Russian, with NAATI certification as a translator for Ukrainian and English languages. Her first book, Taste of Ukraine, was published in 2013. Combining recipes and articles about Ukrainian culture and tradition, it received international recognition with a Gourmand Award.