Chornyi voron

Chornyi voron (Чорний ворон; lit. Black Raven) is a 2009 Ukrainian historical novel by Vasyl Shkliar.^[1] It portrays the anti-Bolshevik Ukrainian insurgency of the early 1920s and was selected for the Shevchenko National Prize in 2011.^[2] In English-language coverage the novel is often referred to by a literal translation of its Ukrainian title (Black Raven), while the published English translation uses the title Raven (Aventura, April 2013; translated by Stephen Komarnyckyj and Susie Speight); a later English print edition appeared as Raven's Way (Kalyna Language Press Limited, 2015; translated by Komarnyckyj).^[3][4] The novel has also been published in Ukraine under the title Залишенець. Чорний Ворон (Kharkiv: Кн. клуб "Клуб Сімейного Дозвілля").^[5]

A review in Ukrainska Pravda described the book as an adventure historical novel and highlighted its dynamic narrative and battle scenes.^[6]

In 2011 the novel became part of a major public controversy connected to the Shevchenko National Prize. Media reported that Shkliar asked that awarding be postponed and publicly declined the state prize at the time.^[7] The presidential decree awarding the 2011 prizes lists other laureates but does not include Shkliar among the recipients named in the document.^[8] Ukrainian media described the episode as a high-profile cultural scandal.^[9]

An English translation, Raven's Way: A Novel, was published by Kalyna Language Press (Canada) in 2015, translated by Stephen Komarnyckyj.^[10]

A later listing of the English edition appears in the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute's Ukrainica materials database.^[11][12]

A film adaptation, The Black Raven, reporting on the film described it as being based on Shkliar's novel and set during the same historical period.^[13] The film is available in Netflix.