Dmytro Pavlychko
Dmytro Pavlychko was born on 28 September 1929 in a lumber worker family living in the village of Stopchativ near the Carpathian Mountains.After coming later to Kyiv he worked in the office of the National Writers' Union of Ukraine and in 1971–1978 as an editor at "Vsesvit" ("Universe") Magazine.In his poetry works of Soviet period, first of which ("Love and hatred") was published in 1953, Pavlychko presented himself as publicist and civil activist, though constrained by that time censorship and compromising with existing rules.Besides writing his own verses, he also translated the poems of Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, Michelangelo, William Shakespeare, José Martí, and Nikola Vaptsarov, among others.In the late 1980s Dmytro Pavlychko was one of the founders of People's Movement of Ukraine, participated in the renewal of the Prosvita Society, organizing and leading the 500th anniversary of the Zaporozhian Sich celebrations in 1990, and taking an active part in the elaboration of the Act on Independence of Ukraine which was approved on 24 August 1991.