![Vira Vovk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Vira_Vovk.JPG)
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
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 ...
.
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 Vovkat 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