Artists in Ukraine have lost their livelihoods. The Ukraine Audiobook Relief Project was launched to support artists in Ukraine whose lives are threatened because of war.

It is a fundamental aspect of war to suppress story, language, and culture. Moved by this crisis of culture, members of PANA (the Professional Audiobook Narrators Association) created this audiobook to raise money for Ukrainian relief. Joined by writers and musicians, we have volunteered our work to show our support for artists living through war.

100% of the profits from the sale of this audiobook donated by PANA (pronarrators.org) will provide financial support to the Artists at Risk Connection in Ukraine through PEN America, a non-profit organization that endeavors to safeguard the right to artistic freedom of expression and ensure that artists and cultural professionals everywhere can live and work without fear. We urge you to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine by supporting its artists.

The folk wisdom of Ukraine includes this expression: “A word is not a sparrow … once it flies out, you won’t catch it.”

‘A Word Is Not A Sparrow’ is a diverse anthology of stories set amid Russian repression through the centuries; personal narrator testimony about the impact in America of immigrant grandparents from Ukraine and elsewhere; powerful fables and allegories that deliver universal messages about displacement, migration, and human connection; and classic Cossack folk tales that are a touchstone of Ukrainian culture. Listen as we let these words fly out around the world.

Narrated by PANA member volunteers Barry Abrams, Jennifer Jill Araya, Dave Arlington, Rosemary Benson, Anna Crowe, Claudia Dunn, Andrea Emmes, Gary Furlong, Rebecca Gallagher, Caroline Hewitt, Susan Iannucci, Elizabeth Jasicki, Tom Jordan, Jennifer March, Janet Metzger, Rich Miller, Erin Moon, Sara Morsey, Traci Odom, Sheri Saginor and Tiffany Williams.

Music by Michael Nazaretz & the Samovar Russian Folk Ensemble, Jeff Crompton, Roger French, and Kenny Raskin.

Writers include Barry Abrams, Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh, Andrea Emmes and Karen Bogle, Vladislav Davidzon, Christopher Dewees, Thaisa Frank, Teresa Johnson, Alla Kudzieva, Taras Shevchenko, and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.

©2000, 2022, 2023 Yulia’s Morning © 2023; Jewish Ukraine Fights Nazi Russia © 2022; Four (by Two) © 2022, by Teresa Johnson. Excerpt from Fishke the Lame published in Yiddish in 1869 by Mendele Moykher-Sforim. Translation by Ken Frieden © 2000 by Syracuse University…licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Other stories are in the public domain or have been contributed by contemporary authors (P)2024 PANA

Audible/Amazon

John Ward, a stoic Calvinist preacher, marries free-thinking, kind-hearted Helen Jeffries. They are deeply in love. John is so taken with his new wife that when he discovers they have opposing views on religious doctrine, he tries to lovingly and gently lead her to the “truth”. Helen, strong in her convictions, refuses to alter her beliefs, instead soothing her husband’s worries with her loving words and actions. However, a tragedy in their small impoverished lumber town puts her beliefs in the spotlight, causing the elders of Ward’s church to push Ward to “bring her to a realizing sense of her condition before proceeding to any extreme measure.”

With a cast of unforgettable characters and endearing sub-plots, this story is alternately a lively comedy of manners juxtaposed with deep questions of place and purpose in a changing world.

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