Ivan Honchar's Literary Circle — Stelmakh, Parajanov, Honchar the Writer
The museum opens a cycle of six lectures on Ivan Honchar's correspondence circle — dialogues with Mykhailo Stelmakh, Sergei Parajanov, Oles Honchar that shaped the Ukrainian 20th-century cultural canon.
In February 2026 the Ivan Honchar Ukrainian Centre for Folk Culture opens a new lecture cycle 'Ivan Honchar's Literary Circle'. Six lectures, held every Tuesday, cover the correspondence relations of the sculptor-ethnographer with three central figures of 20th-century Ukrainian culture: Mykhailo Stelmakh (1912-1983) — Ukrainian novelist whose 'Human Blood is Not Water' remains a canonical work; Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) — Ukrainian film director of Armenian origin whose 'Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors' was based on Hutsul material culture documented by Honchar; Oles Honchar (1918-1995) — Ukrainian prose-writer of the same surname, whose 'Banner-Bearers' formulated the post-war Ukrainian literary canon.
Lectures will be accompanied by an exposition of original letters — the Honchar archive contains over 2000 letters from 60+ correspondents. A separate lecture of the cycle is dedicated to how Ivan Honchar through his ethnographic work supplied authentic material for Ukrainian Soviet culture — Parajanov cited his notebooks, Stelmakh checked field recordings, Honchar the writer consulted with the ethnographer on the details of his characters' daily life. The lecture series is part of the scientific programme 'Hidden Effect' — how ethnographic documentation shapes the literary and cinematographic canon.
