RUSYN magazine was the first periodical after the “Velvet“ Revolution

• It was not until the “Velvet” Revolution of 1989 that Rusyns were acknowledged as an independent ethnic minority in Slovakia and given a chance to publish periodicals and non-periodical issues in the Rusyn language, which had not been codified.
• Codification of standard Rusyn language in Slovakia was ceremonially proclaimed on January 27th, 1995 in Bratislava, which fully opened the door for the publication of magazines, newspapers, books and textbooks in this language, and nobody could blame us for publishing in a dialect.

• The pilot issue of the first post-revolution magazine in Rusyn in Slovakia – RUSYN, cultural-Christian magazine was published in 1990. Since 1991, this magazine has been regularly prepared and published by the editorial office of Rusyn and Ľudové noviny, which, in the beginning, was part of the first post-revolution organisation of Rusyns – Rusyn Revival, and, since December 19th, 2003 it has been an independent civic association.

• An interesting feature of the magazine is the fact that, apart from the column Slovakia, it also has the following regular columns: Czech Republic, Poland, the Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, USA and Canada – which means that it brings articles about the history, significant personalities, present-day life and also cultural-educational efforts of Rusyns in the given countries and Rusyn organisation and their associations that are members of World Congress of Rusyns. It also has a column dedicated to religious life of Rusyns – Svitlo svita (Light of the World) and others.

First Rusyn post-revolution NARODNŶ NOVYNKŶ (NATIONAL NEWSPAPER)

• Apart from the above magazine, the civic association Rusín and Ľudové noviny also publishes NARODNŶ NOVYNKŶ (ĽUDOVÉ NOVINY), a cultural-social weekly for Rusyns in Slovakia, the first issue of which was published on August 21st, 1991.

• The newspapers are focused on topical articles on present-day problems and events, especially in the cultural, educational and religious life of Rusyns in Slovakia. Moreover, it publishes historical articles on such occasions as anniversaries of significant Rusyn events and personalities.

• These newspapers have attracted interest of not a few regular readers and subscribers, contributors and colleagues also thanks to the long-term issuing of a quarterly literary supplement POZDRAVĽIŇA RUSYNIV (GREETINGS OF RUSYNS) and a quarterly supplement for Rusyn children and youth – RUSALKA.

Non-periodical press in Rusyn

• The editorial office and, later, also the civic association Rusín and Ľudové noviny has, apart from the above periodicals, also been publishing since 1992 non-periodical press, especially belles-lettres and popular-scientific literature.

• The first book published by the editorial office was trilingual (Rusyn-Slovak-English) MYRNOU RUSYŇSKOU PUŤOU (IN A PEACEFUL RUSYN WAY) by Volodymyr Fedynyšynec. Until now, Rusyn and Ľudové noviny editorial has published over a hundred non-periodical issues.

• V. Fadynyšynec, together with others, was granted the highest literary award – the Alexander Dukhnovich Prize for Rusyn Literature, which was also connected to the awarding of a bronze sculpture depicting a Carpathian bear and a financial award (in American dollars), financed by the Rusyn sponsor Stephen Chepa from Toronto. The prize was also awarded to three Rusyn writers from Slovakia – Mária Maľcovská, Štefan Suchý and Mikuláš Kseňák.

Rusyn post-revolution textbooks for two types of schools

• It was Rusín and Ľudové noviny who prepared all existing Rusyn textbooks for elementary and secondary schools for publication; BUKVAR (ABC) and ČÍTANKA PRE RUSÍNSKE DETI (FIRST READING BOOK) by Jan Hrib, PRAVYLA RUSYŇSKOHO PRAVOPYSU (SPELLING RULES OF RUSYN) by doc. PhDr. Vasiľ Jabur, CSc. and doc. PhDr. Juraj Paňko, CSc., ORTOGRAFIČNY SLOVNYK RUSYŇSKOHO JAZŶKA (DICTIONARY OF RUSYN ORTHOGRAPHY) by J. Paňko et al., and the 5-language SLOVNYK LINGVISTIČNŶCH TERMINIV (DICTIONARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS) by the same author, which were issued as the first textbooks in 1994 and served as a basis for codification of the Rusyn language in Slovakia on January 27th, 1995.

• At the beginning, only textbooks for one type of elementary and secondary school were published – schools with the teaching of Rusyn. Nowadays, however, textbooks for 2 types of elementary and secondary schools are issued: schools with the teaching of Rusyn and schools with Rusyn as the language of teaching.

• Ten textbooks for secondary schools have been published, two of which are particularly interesting: the comprehensive RUSYŇSKŶJ JAZŶK (RUSYN LANGUAGE) for 1st to 4th grade of secondary schools with Rusyn as the language of teaching by Vasiľ Jabur and Anna Plišková and Slovak-Rusyn-English RUSYŇSKŶJ JAZŶK (RUSYN LANGUAGE for the 2nd level of elementary schools and secondary schools with Rusyn as the language of teaching and schools with the teaching of Rusyn) by Kvetoslava Koporová, Anna Plišková and Eva Eddy.

Rusyn youth, study Rusyn

• All that was said above means that there has been enough periodical as well as non-periodical press published in Rusyn since 1989. What we feel sorry about, though, is the fact that a majority of the young generation cannot read Cyrillic, which means they are not able to read Rusyn periodicals and make use of Rusyn textbooks. That is a real shame, especially if these are the children of Rusyn parents.

WITHOUT YOU, OUR DEAR RUSYN CHILDREN AND YOUTH, THERE IS NO USE FOR OUR WORK AND THERE WILL BE NO FOLLOWERS.