Taras Prokhasko

Taras Prokhasko (; born 16 May 1968) is a Ukrainian novelist, essayist and journalist. Together with Yuri Andrukhovych a major representative of the Stanislav phenomenon, a group of postmodernist writers in Ivano-Frankivsk. Writing of Taras Prokhasko is often associated with magical realism, his novel «The UnSimple» has been compared to One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. Biologist by education Prokhasko's prose has been called to have features of "philosophy of a plant" for its dense and meditative character.

Biography Taras Prokhasko decided to become a writer when he was 12 years old.

From 1989 to 1991, he participated in student protests for Ukraine's independence, including the Revolution on Granite, and began writing during this time.

In 1992, Prokhasko graduated with a degree in botany from Lviv University.

From 1992 to 1993, after graduation, he worked various jobs, including as a school teacher, bartender, and animator at "Vezha" radio, as well as in art galleries, newspapers, on TV, and at the Ivano-Frankivsk Institute of Carpathian Forestry.

From 1992 to 1994, he edited the avant-garde literary magazine "Chetver" (Ukrainian: Четвер, lit. 'Thursday').

In 1993 and 1994 he acted in short films "Flowers of St. Francis" and "Escape to Egypt" (winner of the Delyatyn video art festival). Worked as a journalist at "Express", "Postup", "Telekrytyka" and "Halytskyi korespondent" newspapers.

In 2004 Prokhasko spent several months in Kraków on the «Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza — Homines Urbani» foundation scholarship.

Awards and recognition 1997 – Smoloskyp prize 2006 – first prize for fiction from "Korespondent" journal 2007 – third prize for documentary writing from "Korespondent" journal 2007 – Joseph Conrad prize from the Polish Institute in Kyiv 2013 – BBC Book of the Year, Litakcent roku for "Who will make the snow" 2019 – BBC Book of the Year, Essays category, for "Tak, ale…" (Ukrainian: Так, але..., lit. 'Yes, but…') 2020 – Taras Shevchenko National Award of Ukraine for the book "Tak, ale…" 2023 – The Best Children’s Books of 2023 of The New York Times for the book "Who Will Make the Snow?"