Helena Kolody

Helena Kolody (1912–2004) was a Brazilian poet and educator. Considered to be the outstanding poet of the State of Paraná, she started writing poetry when she was 12 and published her first poem "A Lágrima" four years later. When she was 20, she became a schoolteacher and later, on graduation, a lecturer at the Curitiba Normal School. She is remembered in particular for being the first Brazilian to write verse in the Japanese haiku style, publishing "Cântico" in 1941 and including haiku verse in several later publications.

Biography Born in Cruz Machado on 12 October 1912, Helena Kolody was the daughter of Miguel and Victória a Kolody, both from the Ukrainian region of Galicia. She was raised in Três Barras and Rio Negro before moving to Curitiba, where she spent the rest of her life.