Iryna Kalynets

Iryna Onufriyivna Kalynets (, (Стасів); 6 December 1940 – 31 July 2012) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, activist and Soviet dissident during the 1970s. Kalynets was the wife of another Soviet dissident, Ihor Kalynets.

Life and career Kalynets attended Lviv secondary school No. 87 from 1947–1957. After graduating, she worked in production for two years. Kalynets studied Slavic Philology at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. In 1964, she worked as a methodologist at the regional House of Folk Creativity and as a teacher, librarian, and lecturer of Ukrainian language and literature at the Lviv Polytechnic National University. There, she published poems for children in periodicals. Their daughter was left alone for nine years. During her imprisonment, Kalynets announced hunger strikes in support of other prisoners and sent telegrams with protests to various institutions of the USSR. She was allowed to go back from her exile in 1981.

Major works and style Kalynets’ poetry combines artistic thought with political engagement. In author interviews, she described the lyrical self of her characters as an “aesthetic expression of human existence in psychological and physical tension.” She maintained that “literature and politics go side by side without competing with each other.” Kalynets’ poetry follows a clear set of principles, focusing on elevating Ukrainian voices under the oppressive USSR regime. On December 25, 2015, a memorial plaque in her honor was unveiled on the facade of the building of Lviv secondary school No. 87, where Iryna Kalynets studied from 1947–1957. On December 21, 2017, Lviv secondary comprehensive school No. 87 was named after Iryna Kalynets by the decision of the Lviv City Council. On June 30, 2022, the former Karl Bryullov street in the Frankivskyi district of Lviv was named in honor of Iryna Kalynets.