Make-Up Tips for the Sick

Iryna Zahladko is a Czech-Ukrainian poet, translator, and a graduate in theoretical physics. She has been living in Prague since 2019 and has published two books in Ukrainian, a collection of poems in Polish, and the poetry collection Tváření (Shaping, 2023) in Czech. She has edited zines, organised festivals, curated exhibitions, slams and performances, and collaborated with various writers across the Czech and Ukrainian art scene.

Translated with an introduction by Alexandra Büchler.Won the 2025 Literary Critics’ Award for Poetry in Czechia.‘One of 2024’s most outstanding achievements in Czech poetry.’ – TvarIn Make-Up Tips for the Sick, Zahladko engages in the most intimate record of the body’s processes while undergoing treatment for cancer, tirelessly observing the experience of internal exile in a world where supposedly ‘nothing is happening’. While her poetry demands that these harsh realities be addressed, it also acknowledges that even here simple human desires exist, even here the taste of good food is important. Life goes on, even though time does not flow in war or illness, as the poet relates with a repeated, urgent refrain.