8 Ukrainian Writers to Help You Understand This Nation

The legacy Ukraine is proud of.

Image: Pexels

This story began about a month ago.

A girl has come in the comments to my article Why “Great Russian Literature” Is Fake and wrote the following:

“Olesia, have you considered writing posts about talented Ukrainian writers? Perhaps you could spend your time introducing Ukrainian literature to the collective West instead of bashing Russian literature?”

Well:

First, that article wasn’t about “bashing Russian literature.”

Second, that lady appeared to be a pro-russian dummy who sang the oldy-moldy song about Ukraine and russia being “brotherly nations” who “will be together again,” the myth russians had been creating for centuries, thus erasing a Ukrainian identity. (Lingoucide, Executed Renaissance, and active rewriting of Ukrainian history are just a few of their crimes to mention.)

Ukrainian Language: 400 Years of Linguocide

Third, I gave her a short list of Ukrainian writers’ names to check. Today, I’m here to share some with you.

Eight writers. All are the classics of Ukrainian literature. Two of them russians are actively trying to call theirs. The Soviet regime killed the other two. The memorial to one of them the russian empire forbade to install.

The legacy Ukraine is proud of. The legacy russia never had.

1. Hryhorii Skovoroda (1722–1794)

Philosopher, poet, composer of liturgical music

Everything Skovoroda wrote was aimed at pursuing the perfect human happiness. This happiness lies in achieving balance and inner peace. The path to it lies in knowing yourself and your true calling. It’s like discovering Truth within yourself; it is the best path to Truth.

Interesting facts:

• Did not eat meat or fish. Some legends claim he ate once a day, after sunset.
• Loved Tokaji wine and Parmesan cheese.
• Predicted his own death. The statement on his grave was written by him beforehand, saying, “The world tried to catch me but failed to do so.”

Source

Works to read:

• Fables and Aphorisms
• Narsisis or Know thyself
• A Conversation Among Five Travelers Concerning Life’s True Happiness

2. Ivan Kotliarevsky (1769–1838)

The pioneer of modern Ukrainian literature

Kotliarevsky’s greatest literary work is Eneïda, his travesty of Virgil’s Aeneid. Though it was initially received as a joke, the author pursued a much deeper purpose — the manifestation of Ukrainian cultural distinctiveness and autonomy. His lyrical drama Natalka Poltavka similarly demonstrates his belief in the future success of national culture.

Interesting facts:

• Never married. Researchers suggest the reason was his unhappy love: When Ivan was 25, he fell in love with Maria who rejected him. He joined the army after that.
• Organized a Cossack cavalry regiment to fight Napoleon Bonaparte and served there as a major.
• Was the director of the Poltava Free Theater.
• Activists were not allowed to set a monument to Kotliarevsky in 1898, on the 100th anniversary of Eneïda’s first publication. It took them five years to do that.

Ivan Kotliarevsky’s monument (1903) in Poltava, Ukraine

Works to read:

• Natalka Poltavka
• Moskal-Charivnyk
• Eneïda

3. Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861)

The founder of the modern Ukrainian literary language, the most important symbol of modern Ukrainian nationhood

The key word to understand Shevchenko is “freedom.” Not “revenge,” not “sorrow,” but “freedom”: everything else is merely a precondition or means to achieve it.

Interesting facts:

• He was a talented artist, creating over 1,300 artworks.
• He always dressed fashionably and enjoyed tea with rum.
• Shevchenko’s favorite dish was borscht with dried crucian carp, fresh cabbage, and spices.
• The Soviet authorities couldn’t ban Shevchenko’s works because they were too well-known. Instead, they tried to discredit him.
• There are 1,384 monuments to Taras Shevchenko around the world.

Shevchenko’s first collection of poems — Kobzar — was published when he was 26. (Source)

Works to read:

• Haidamaky
• Kateryna
• The Caucasus
• Dream
• To the Dead, the Living and the Unborn

Of 237 poems by Shevchenko, only 28 were published in the russian empire. Others went live in the Austrian Empire over his lifetime.

(left) Luhansk (invaded by russia in 2014): russians changed the sign at Shevchenko’s monument, calling him a “russian poet”; (center) Shevchenko’s monument Ukrainian troops met when liberated the town of Borodyanka from russian occupation in early April 2022; (right) Shevchenko in Kharkiv, covered to protect him from russian missiles’ attacks

4. Ivan Franko (1856–1916)

Writer, social and literary critic, journalist, translator, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, ethnographer, and the author of the first detective novels and modern poetry in the Ukrainian language

Franko believed that humanity develops gradually and that some nations should strive to catch up with others who are more successful with that. Words have the power to change and improve a person, so a writer must always see this as their mission.

Interesting facts:

• Knew 14 languages and translated into Ukrainian from 48 languages, including Eastern ones.
• Incredibly prolific, with a legacy of more than 6,000 works: 10 poetry collections, 50 poems, 10 works of prose, and more than 3,000 journalistic articles and scientific papers.
• Endured three arrests.
• Loved animals deeply.
• Was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Known for his love of the vyshyvanka, a Ukrainian embroidered shirt. Wore it both on regular days and special occasions, becoming a trendsetter by combining vyshyvanka with a classic European suit.

Ukrainian money with Ivan Franko’s portrait

Works to read:

• Boryslav Laughs
• Boa Constrictor
• Withered Leaves
• Stolen Happiness
• Kameniari (Groundbreakers)

5. Olha Kobylianska (1863–1942)

One of Ukraine’s most prominent modernist novelists

Olha’s mission to write for Ukrainians was intertwined with her feminist drive to prove the worth of a woman writer, along with a sense of herself as a classic in national literature. Living with the knowledge that you are forever part of literary history inspired and motivated her to work.

Interesting facts:

• Self-educated and well-read woman, she wrote her first stories in German.
• Known for her close friendships with prominent Ukrainians, including Lesia Ukrainka, Natalia Kobrynska, and Osyp Makovei.
• Was involved in the Ukrainian women’s movement.
• Skilled at drawing; played various musical instruments.
• Loved horses, and was an excellent horseback rider.

With Lesia Ukrainka

Works to read:

• Liudyna (A Person)
• Tsarivna (The Princess)
• Zemlia (The Land)
• V nediliu rano zillia kopala (On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs)

6. Lesia Ukrainka (1871–1913)

One of Ukrainian literature’s foremost writers, best known for her poems and plays. A political, civil, and feminist activist.

The central concept in Lesia’s works is a struggle: Her writing always unfolds as a confrontation — between oppressor and oppressed, progressive and reactionary, the faithful and the disillusioned. The constant theme of struggle, even in defeat, brings authentic existentialist motifs to her work.

Interested facts:

• Lesia’s real name is Larysa Kosach.
• She was one of the leading poets of the Ukrainian national revival in the early 20th century.
• Wrote over 250 works, including poems, dramas, novellas, and stories.
• Was an active participant in the Ukrainian national liberation movement, engaging in underground activities and delivering public speeches.
• Died of tuberculosis at the age of 42.

A group of Ukrainian writers gathered in Poltava at the unveiling of the monument to Ivan Kotliarevsky in 1903. From left to right: Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Vasyl Stefanyk, Olena Pchilka, Lesia Ukrainka, Mykhailo Starytsky, Hnat Khotkevych, and Volodymyr Samiylenko

Works to read:

• Thoughts and Dreams
• By the Sea
• The Blue Rose
• The Forest Song
• Cassandra

7. Mykola Khvylovy (1893–1933)

Creator of post-revolutionary Ukrainian prose; novelist, poet, and publicist

Khvylovy lived in a utopia — a grand dream of a marvelous future without evil or sorrow, filled with locomotives, skyscrapers, beautiful cities, and the joy of creativity. This world was to be inhabited by people who were perfect in their aspirations and abilities. He dreamed of that world, yet reality proved harsh and tragic… And then, he left. But his dreams and anxieties live in his texts.

Interesting facts:

• The author of the “Away from Moscow!” slogan. Believed that Ukraine must reject copying russian culture by the “Moscow template” to create its own culture.
• “13” was his favorite number. Born on December 13, he died on May 13.
• Committed suicide in the Slovo writers’ house in Kharkiv as a protest against the mass repressions of Ukrainian intellectuals.
• The protagonist of Slovo House, a movie about a generation of Ukrainian artists persecuted by the totalitarian system, unfolding against the backdrop of one of the largest genocides of the 20th century — the Holodomor.

With stepdaughter and wife

Works to read:

• Sanatorium zone
• I
• Ivan Ivanovich
• Thoughts against the Current
• Ukraine or Little Russia?

8. Vasyl Stus (1938–1985)

Poet, translator, literary critic, journalist, and active member of the Ukrainian dissident movement

Facts:

• Lived in the Donbass area (now occupied by russians).
• Worked as a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature.
• Fought for human & national rights and became a symbol of heroic defiance and resistance.
• The camp guards destroyed his collection of 300 poems. In protest against the harsh treatment of political prisoners by the camp administration, he declared hunger strikes several times.
• The Ukrainian diaspora tried to nominate Vasyl Stus for the Nobel Prize in Literature but failed to finalize all arrangements on time.
• Was killed in Soviet imprisonment.

Vasyl Stus’s mug shot from his first arrest in January 1972 (Source)

Works to read:

• Zymovi Dereva
• Veselyi Tsvyntar
• Palimpsesty

Final Words

A lot of people stubbornly continue to see Ukraine and its culture as “part of russia,” call our writers russian, and so on. It’s the result of many years of aggressive systemic measures, actions, and legislations undertaken by the Imperial russian and later Soviet authorities to strengthen russian national, political, and linguistic positions in Ukraine.

“Slavic culture” still means “russian culture” for many. In movies mentioning the Cold War, Americans call the Soviet Union “russians,” while there were a dozen nations (including Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Armenians, and others) there.

It’s wrong.

And when such dummies like the one I mentioned in the intro tell me that “the reason why Ukrainian writers are not very well known is that they are not promoted enough by Ukrainians” and that I “won’t make a great case for Ukrainian culture by bashing the Russian one,” I have the answer:

200+ modern Ukrainian poets and writers are killed by russians in this ongoing war. Another Executed Renaissance who could write a lot and “be promoted” as you say.

My goal isn’t to promote Ukrainian by “bashing” russian. I show how russians (empire, soviets, and today rus terrorists) erase everything Ukrainian for people like you to say in a few years that “Ukrainian writers are not very well known” or “there are no famous Ukrainian writers.”

Because you killed them all, morons!

Thanks for reading!

Let me know if you want me to share the names of famous modern Ukrainian writers. :)

I appreciate all your claps and comments. Feel free to follow me for more stories about Ukraine and my reflections on staying here (I’m in Kyiv) during the war.

You’re also welcome to join my newly created publication. (It’s not about Ukraine but my professional background in content creation.)

Writing Breeze