Lesya Ukrainka

Lesya Ukrainka (real name — Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka) was a Ukrainian writer and poet.

Lesya Ukrainka was born on February 25, 1871, in the town of Novograd-Volynsky. Her mother was a writer who worked under the pseudonym Olena Pchilka, and her father was an educated landowner who loved literature and painting very much. The Kosach home often hosted writers, artists, and musicians, and evenings and private concerts were held there. Lesya’s uncle (as she was called in the family, and this home name became her literary pseudonym) — Mykhailo Drahomanov, who over time took a friendly interest in his niece and helped her in every way — was a scholar, folklorist, and public figure who lived abroad for a long time in France and Bulgaria. Lesya thoroughly studied several foreign languages, which enabled her to become broadly acquainted with the classic works of world literature.

Lesya began playing and composing little musical pieces at the age of five, and at eight she wrote her first poem. In 1881 she unexpectedly fell seriously ill. She was tormented by unbearable pain in her right leg. At first it was thought that she had acute rheumatism, and she was treated with baths, ointments, and herbs, but all was useless. The pain spread to her arms. Doctors eventually determined that it was bone tuberculosis. Lesya’s musical career was over. After the first, difficult, but extremely unsuccessful operation, her arm remained crippled.

Ukrainka began writing and publishing at the age of 12. Her early works include a Ukrainian translation of Gogol’s Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka (in collaboration with her brother). Ukrainka was published in foreign journals such as Zorya, Zhyte i slovo, and Literaturno-naukovyi vistnyk.

Lesya was treated in Egypt and Greece, in Germany and Austria. All was in vain. To the aggravated course of bone tuberculosis was added an incurable kidney disease. Lesya Ukrainka died on August 1, 1913, in the Georgian town of Surami. She was buried at Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv.

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