Meet Chainka, Poet and Beloved Author of Summer in Greenland

There are summers that test us, there are summers that change us. And for Dylan O’ Brian, this summer is both. 

Summer in Greenland is a novel written by Ukrainian author and poet, Chainka. It is centered around the story of 13 year old boy Dylan O’ Brian or Dean (as his friends like to call him) who returns once again to the city of Greenland. A place that always felt like a second home, with its meadows, rivers, and soft green grass you can just lay on for hours. Dylan reunites with the familiar atmosphere of Greenland and his old friends— ready to take on his role as the “King of Greenland” once again. But something feels different this summer. And as the summer days stretch on, Dylan begins to face changes he’s never known before.

With the first draft being written under two weeks during the war, Chainka uses her poetic prose and stitches words together to create a novel on the profound truth that we will never stop growing. We are always becoming. 

And today we had the opportunity to dive deeper and chat with the spontaneous, creative, and insightful Chainka on Summer in Greenland, her upcoming poetry collection, Why the Birds Fell and many other things! 

What inspired you to start writing?

The truth is, ever since my childhood, I wanted to write something—mostly because, for example, my sister started writing her book. She was just, like, you know, being silly and stuff like that. And she’s older than me by five years, so I wanted, obviously, to do what she was doing. And I wanted to be, like, you know, even better than that. And when I heard that she was writing her book, I was like—I was eight—and I was like, I have to do one myself. But Word documents turned out to be much harder for eight-year-old me than I thought it would be. And after a while, when I couldn’t understand how I put a dot on the laptop, I was like, “No, I’m giving up.”

But in general, I think I’ve just always wanted to express myself somehow—whether through telling stories or writing them. So I can’t pick one particular moment when I would do that. I guess, like, just all the time ever since I was born.

When I went to my gymnasia, there was a competition in Ukrainian language where, at the end of this Ukrainian competition, you had to, like, just create a poem. And I was like, wow, poems are super easy. And I don’t know why—for me—I was like, it’s super easy. And I wrote it and I won the contest. And everybody was like, “Wow, you have a talent!” And I was like, “I do? Wait a second, wait a second.”

I thought it was like—everyone does that. I can’t say that I was writing decent stories because that was obviously not like this. But I told some stories. I created some, I don’t know, fictional ideas that I would tell to the camera and pretend that I am, like, having a news flash or something.

How did this idea come about? Was there a moment in your life that made you realize that growing up doesn’t just end when you’re 13 or when you  get into college?

Though, it kind of feels like this to be honest. You know, when I was writing that—I think I’ve told that before—that I was in a bad state because the war was in my country, and it was just, in general, not the best time. And I was thinking about everything, like my childhood had ended, because it felt like so, you know—it felt like it was just stolen from me, and I was desperately trying to make this, like, summer in Greenland as a part of my childhood as well.

And then while I was writing it, I didn’t have this idea of having this, you know, constant “growing up” thing while I was writing it for the first time. And then after some time, when I was writing, I was like, “Wait a second. Like, he is growing. Like, this is a very peak stage of growing. But actually, we are growing all the time.” I was like, “Wait, like, when I’m 40, I will still have some new things to discover. When I’m 40, I will have some new things to find joy in.”

And I was like, “Wow, life doesn’t end when you turn, like, 14, 15, or 18—even if you feel like this is so.” Yeah, that’s kind of like—I decided that I really want to make a big emphasis on this. And I was like, yeah, we’re growing all the time, which is super scary, but it’s also super exciting. Because, you know, you can always think of that—that you’re like, you know, people can’t judge you for being, I don’t know, like, too young or something, because you’re always growing. You know, there’s no stage in which you are, like, fully developed. And I love this.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with the main character of your book, Dylan, what would you say to him?

Um, I think… I don’t—I don’t know if talking to Dylan feels like talking to my younger father, you know? And, yeah, I think—I think he would tell me a bunch of stuff. Like, I would tell him my worries that I don’t know, like, what will happen. He would be like, “Girl, girl, are you okay? Girl—” Like, I feel like he would be very cheesy, you know, or very, like, laid back.

And I don’t know, I think I would tell him that everything is going to be okay with him and he shouldn’t worry, and whatever life has in store for him, it doesn’t mean that he has to, you know, worry about it—because life will figure out itself. And you just have to, you know, enjoy every moment and make the best of it. And he would be like, “Yo, that sounds so bad. Bye.” And leave the table.

So you’ve mentioned that you want to adapt Summer in Greenland into a movie. Do you already have a dream cast in mind, like some actors that you want to have in the movie?

Actually, I hope that this interview will be read by those actors, so they would be like—

I can show them—“Yeah, you should go to this movie. This is great. It’s going to be great.”

Yes. No, but to be honest, you know, I have another part of Greenland. So there’s, like, this part where they are kids, and the second part is they are grown-ups, and they just kind of meet again in Greenland and they’re like, “Hey guys, haven’t seen you in a while.”

And I was actually thinking that I would like to adapt it like, as—you know, I would want to make it like a series, I guess. Like, show, like, the first season would be all of their, like, young, and the second one would be growing up.

And for young cast, I actually have no idea who I would take. Really, I really want to find someone who would be a perfect Dylan. And like, you know, it’s curly boy—like curly-haired boy, and, you know, brown eyes—that this is what I feel for him.

But talking about the older cast—I just, I hope God will hear me. Everyone will hear me. I want Aidan Gallagher as the main character. Really, Aidan Gallagher. Or Timothée Chalamet—but Timothée is already old. I’m so sorry, but he’s, like, old for that. But yeah, would do great.

And I don’t know—I don’t know for… I really don’t know. I haven’t really, like, looked at someone popular and been like, “Wow, you would be such a perfect, you know, Lolita,” (Lolita is a character from the book)  for example. I would cast anyone who feels like it. But Aidan Gallagher as Dylan in the second.

So the fifth question: What is a feeling or a message that you would like readers to carry with them after they close the last chapter of the book?

I guess, like, this book is pretty dramatic in the way that, you know, some dramatic actions—do not spoiler—happen. And I feel like I just want them to close the book and to understand that life is not black and white.

You know, like, sometimes bad things happen, but it’s not only them that happen. Like, good things also happen to us daily—just we don’t notice them that much.

And I want people, after they read this book, to be like, “Wow, I am alive. That’s such a miracle.

Wow. I can, like, drink a cup of coffee today. Wow, I can talk to a friend today.”You know, there are so many great things to happen to us daily. I just want people to really see that, to notice it, to feel like a kid again. Because I feel like we could actually stay as kids. We could keep that magic of growing up with us. But we just cut it off because we think that that’s not how it’s supposed to be in the adult world. 

But the truth is, the longer you stay as a kid, the longer you appreciate just what you have, the longer you love everything that is happening around you, the better your life will be.

 So you don’t really have to be that, like, you know, cliché adult. You have to, you know, take it—take your time, I guess.

Yeah, I agree with that, especially with, uh, social media nowadays. It’s like, kids are doing all of this—adult stuff. And then you have teenagers who are constantly pushing themselves to be, you know, this bigger person instead of just, you know, enjoying life. And I feel like that’s—it’s such a great—it’s such a great idea that you put in your book.

Yeah, about, like—about exactly teenagers. You know, I was thinking about them when I was finishing, and I understand that, for example, I’ve also started working from a pretty young age because of the war. And I also felt like I was a little bit, like, you know, cut off from my childhood.

But I feel like right now, it got to the crazy extent where people are, like, 10 and they’re like, “Wow, I’m not a president of America. Like, wow. Why? I’m wasting my time.” You know? And I feel like, yeah—that’s so wrong right now in our society. Like, we don’t really have to do that.

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring writers, what would it be?

Well, I love this question. I would just say that you have to do something not for other people—because, you know, that’s just such a typical thing to say. But I believe that sometimes we are, like, overthinking stuff that we want to put on the internet, because we’re like, “What if people think that?” Or “What if, like, what if that can be, like, taken as controversial?”

But the world right now is crazy. You can, I don’t know, cough near someone and they will think that you’re in love with them. And I feel like, the more you act like your real self, the more people, of course, will judge you—but also the more free you will feel.

So I feel like, just for all the writers, for all the people: just be yourself. Like, forget about other people. Be kind to other people, but also be kind to yourself. And, you know, appreciate what is going on. Appreciate every moment that is happening. You never know if you will, like—I don’t know—wake up tomorrow, you know.

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Now let’s talk about poetry. Your collection, Why The Birds Fell will be out on June 30th. How do you feel?

Well, I am excited, of course, but also a little bit nervous since some of those poems are way too personal and I’ve never showed them before.

 What is the meaning behind the title? Why did you choose to have Why the Birds Fell as a title for your poetry collection?

So… Let me yap, haha! Birds are, in my head, my symbol of freedom. Since the war started I felt it has been taken from me; it also refers to a pretty beautiful ceremony at the prom of 11th grade where you have to let go of doves to the sky, — but again, because of war I was not able to do it, so my birds kind of fell before they could raise. It does also refer to one quote from my poem, ‘you said ‘the birds tried to fly, and that’s why the birds fell’’! God, there are so many meanings, — and as for others, I want to leave it to readers to find or create.

What inspired this collection?

 I’ve been wanting to make a poetry collection since the beginning of year, but I couldn’t think of anything special. See, I didn’t want it to be a regular ‘soup’ of poems, — so I was waiting for an idea to strike me. And it did: this poetry collection is actually a hidden city inside me, with an actual map and places I no longer wish to visit. 

I think, in a way, this book helped me to proceed my trauma recovery from war, since a lot of those poems are talking about my experience as a refugee. 

Can you describe the process of creating the collection from brainstorming up to editing? 

— Ahah, well, it wasn’t something so unusual! I just gathered some of my favorite poems and those that I felt I wanted to let go, and then I started putting them together! There are nine ‘districts’, — places — in my collection: 4th sink, open at 13; Gate N.3 (Don’t look back), Hallway of Glass Ankles, Tank Garden, The chapel of unnamed saints, The room that dreamed of water, The apartment with the locked door, The Balcony at the Mouth of the City, Bomb Shelter for Beautiful Things. Phew! Eheh. Each one of them represents a certain period of my life, a certain idea; let’s say that ‘4th sink…’, for example, is all about girlhood and what it was for me to grow into a woman while also facing the war, meanwhile ‘The balcony…’ talk a lot about my relationship and it kind of reminds me of unsent love letters.

 In the topic of poetry, do you think that vulnerability is needed to create a good poem? Or do you think that vulnerability is already entwined with the concept of a poem?

God, that’s a good one! I honestly think that when you’re writing something, you already show yourself as a sensitive person.

 It is a very wrong concept that poetry or art needs some special qualities of a character or whatever, — because as long as you open your heart, you’re an artist. 

Lastly, is there a message that you’d like to share with our readers before we end the interview? 

— Yes! I want to say that you matter. Don’t ever lose the love, the belief and hope, — especially to your dreams.