Oksana Kutsenko

Born on 9th December 1975 in Oster of the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, Oksana Kutsenko (Rozumna) grew up and studied (at school and university) in Chernihiv. She made her poetry debut with the book of poems "In the Winters of Desires" in 1996 as a laureate of "Smoloskyp" literary award. In 2004 she obtained a PhD in Religious Studies from the National Academy of Science. She has worked at the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and the National Institute for Strategic Studies. She is a Ukrainian diplomat to South Africa since 2018 and a researcher on cultural diplomacy as well as the development of cultural diplomacy institutions.

Oksana Kutsenko launched and curated the project "I’ll be Waiting for You under the Kaїce-drat" to translate African contemporary poetry into Ukrainian. In collaboration with folk theatre "Dyvyna" (Donetsk) and contemporary dance theatre "Black Orange Dance Production" she developed the narrative on internal refugees and global migration within the projects "The Sand" and "The Sand. Coming home".

As a poet-performer, Oksana Kutsenko highlights the ideas of ecofeminism, the movement widespread in African countries ("In Memoriam of a River", 2018-2019). Oksana Kutsenko has been published in anthologies and literature reviews of Ukraine and South Africa, performs at the festival and poetry stages of both countries.