Vira Ostapivna Selianska ( uk, Ві́ра Оста́півна Селя́нська,

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Vira Vovk ( uk, Ві́ра Вовк; 2 January 1926 – 16 July 2022) was a Ukrainian writer, critic and translator. She wrote in

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Biography

Born in

Boryslav Boryslav ( uk, Борислав; pl, Borysław) is a city located on the Tysmenytsia (river), Tysmenytsia (a tributary of the Dniester), in Drohobych Raion, Lviv Oblast (Oblast, region) of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Borysl ...

in 1926, she grew up in the

Hutsul The Hutsuls (sometimes the spelling variant: Gutsuls; uk, Гуцули, translit=Hutsuly; pl, Huculi, Hucułowie; ro, huțuli) are an ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). They ...

region in the town of

Kuty Kuty ( ua, Кути translit. ''Kuty'', german: Kutten, pl, Kuty, yi, קיטעוו translit. ''Kitev'', ro, Cuturi) is an urban-type settlement in Ukraine, on the Cheremosh river, in the Kosiv Raion of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. It is one of the ...

(at that time on the Polish-Romanian border). Vira Vovk's secondary education was completed in

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

. She studied Germanics, music history and comparative literature at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

. In 1945, she emigrated with her mother to Portugal and in 1949, further to Brazil. She went to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

where she completed her university studies. Post graduate studies were completed at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) and

Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. Vovk received a PhD and became professor of German literature at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Vovk has created ten collections of poetry, ten novels, and eleven plays and has made numerous translations of Western writers into Ukrainian and Ukrainian writers into

. Vovk died on 16 July 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the age 96.

Awards and achievements

She received the

Ivan Franko Ivan Yakovych Franko (Ukrainian: Іван Якович Франко, pronounced ˈwɑn ˈjɑkowɪtʃ frɐnˈkɔ 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, ...

Literary award in 1957, 1979, 1982 and 1990, the Blahovist award 2000. She actively propagated Ukrainian culture and language. In 2008, Vovk received Ukrainian state award

Shevchenko National Prize Shevchenko National Prize ( uk, Націона́льна пре́мія Украї́ни і́мені Тараса́ Шевче́нка; also ''Shevchenko Award'') is the highest state prize of Ukraine for works of culture and arts awarded since ...

Sources

* Danylo Husar Struk
Vira Vovk
at Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine * Viktoriia Kostiuchenko
Віра Вовк: Читачі в Бразилії і Португалії мають одне джерело, то є мої видання (Vera Wolf: Readers in Brazil and Portugal have one source, that is my publications)
Ukraina Moloda Newspaper, April 2008, in Ukrainian. * Літературні вечори в Українському Інституті Модерного Мистецтва Чикаго, 1973—2006 // Укладачі: Віра Боднарук, Володимир Білецький. — Донецьк: Український культурологічний центр, 2006. — 140 с.
Virtual library of Ukrainian poetry by the New York group.
* Liudmyla Taran
Українка з Бразилії (A Ukrainian from Brazil
, ''

Den Den may refer to: * Den (room), a small room in a house * Maternity den, a lair where an animal gives birth Media and entertainment * ''Den'' (album), 2012, by Kreidler * Den (''Battle Angel Alita''), a character in the ''Battle Angel Alita' ...

'', 13.06.2001 * Vira Vovk
Карнавал. Оповідання до картин Юрія Соловія (Carnival. Narratives to paintings of Yurii Solovii)
Rio de Janeiro, 1986.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vovk, Vira 1926 births 2022 deaths Brazilian non-fiction writers Ukrainian emigrants to Brazil Ukrainian women writers Ukrainian women poets People from Boryslav People from Lwów Voivodeship Ukrainian–Portuguese translators 20th-century translators 20th-century Brazilian women writers Ukrainian-language writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers University of Tübingen alumni Federal University of Rio de Janeiro alumni Recipients of the Order of Princess Olga, 3rd class