Ivan Baidak
Writer, poet, Ukraine
Ivan Baidak is a fiction writer and poet whose debut novel Personally Me Personally for You (2013) was a national bestseller. Originally from Ukraine, he’s also lived in Poland, Austria, Mexico and the United States, where he attended the City College of San Francisco. His short stories have been translated into English, German, Serbian, Polish, Spanish, and Italian, and presented at European literary festivals. His texts often border on narrative experiments, when the author plays with form, storyline, and textual dynamics.
His critically acclaimed social novel about inclusion (In)visible (2020) was adapted into a theater play as well as several photo exhibitions.
(In)visible
(In)visible is a social fiction book published in 2020 that addresses the social problems of people with certain physical conditions. Four people, with diseases like Tourette Syndrome, Vitiligo, Alopecia, and face hemangioma meet at a social support group and decide to rent an apartment together. They live and share their experience fighting bullying and prejudice. They speak on their feelings, attempts to integrate into society, and the way society treats them. During his residency at Camargo, Ivan Baidak will be working on a movie script based on this novel.