Mykhailyna Kotsiubynska

Mykhailyna Khomivna Kotsiubynska (; 18 December 1931 – 7 January 2011) was a Ukrainian literary critic, translator, and active participant of the Sixtiers movement. Laureate of many prestigious Ukrainian awards: Oles Biletsky Award, Vasyl Stus Prize (1994), Antonovych Prize (1996), All-Ukrainian Literary Award named after Mykhailo Kotsiubinsky (1998), Olena Teliha Award (2001), Shevchenko National Prize (2009), Panteleimon Kulish Award (2015, posthumously). Knight of the Order of Princess Olga of the III degree (2006). Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine (December 2001). Niece of the classic of Ukrainian literature Mykhailo Kotsyubynskyi (daughter of his younger brother Khoma).

Early life and education

Kotsiubynska was born in Vinnytsia, where her father, Khoma Kotsiubynsky, created and managed the museum of the writer Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky. Her mother, Kateryna Bedryzova, was a Crimean Armenian by origin, who met Khoma Kotsiubynsky in Kyiv, in an orphanage where both were teachers. In 1958 she became a Candidate of Philological Sciences. Under the leadership of academician Oleksandr Biletskyi Kotsiubynska defended her PhD thesis Shevchenko's Poetics and Ukrainian Romanticism. She was the head of the editorial board of the academic collection of works by Vasyl Stus in 6 volumes (1994–1997). Kotsiubynska also worked as a compiler and commentator on a collection of works by Viacheslav Chornovil in 10 volumes (published since 2002).

Kotsiubynska is the author of articles, essays, memoirs, and critical memoirs about Vasyl Stus, Ivan Svitlychny, Zenovia Genyk-Berezovska, Pavlo Tychyna, Yevhen Sverstyuk, Borys Antonenko-Davydovych and others.

In 2008, she became an honorary doctor of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Kotsiubynska died in Kyiv on 7 January 2011, aged 79. She was buried at Baikove cemetery (plot No. 33).

The Sixtiers movement

Kotsiubynska was an active participant in the Sixtiers movement, a non-conformist group of the Ukrainian intelligentsia that resisted the Soviet occupation in a non-violent way. As result in 1966 Kotsiubynska was expelled from the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. She was transferred to another department of the Institute of Literature and her monograph on Taras Shevchenko was not included in the publication plan.

In 1972 Kotsiubynska was regularly interrogated by the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR, in particular, in the case of Vasyl Stus, whom she gave a high-profile at the court. She sent a letter of protest to the head of the Communist Party of Ukraine Volodymyr Shcherbytskyi, demanding the release of Nadiya Svitlychna from arrest. Kotsiubynska did not sign a joint letter of repentance with Zinovia Franko, fabricated by the KGB authorities, which was supposed to discredit the Sixtiers movement. She survived the blackmail of the Soviet authorities regarding the adopted Tetiana, who was threatened to be taken away from her family.

In 1977, a new series of interrogations have started in the criminal cases of Mykola Matusevich, Myroslav Marynovich, and Vasyl Stus.

Personal life In 1983, the KGB of the USSR actively interfered in the personal life of Kotsiubynska. She was banned from marrying the writer Borys Antonenko-Davydovych.

Awards and honors

Oles Biletsky Prize (1993)