Olena Pchilka

Olha Petrivna Kosach (née Drahomanova 29 June 1849 – 4 October 1930), better known by her pen name Olena Pchilka , was a Ukrainian publisher, writer, ethnographer, interpreter, and civil activist. She was the sister of Mykhailo Drahomanov and the mother of Lesya Ukrainka, Olha Kosach-Kryvyniuk, Mykhailo Kosach, Oksana Kosach-Shymanovska, Mykola Kosach, Izydora Kosach-Borysova and Yuriy Kosach.

Biography Pchilka was born in Hadiach, into the family of a local landowner, Petro Drahomanov. The family originated from a Greek dragoman who served in the chancellery of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

Pchilka received a basic education at home and completed her studies at the Exemplary Boarding School of Noble Maidens (Kyiv) in 1866. During her time at the school Pchilka published her first story, which was written in German language.

Works Among the most prominent of her works are the following: "Tovaryshky" (Comradesses, 1887), "Svitlo dobra i lyubovi" (The light of goodness and love, 1888), "Soloviovyi spiv" (Nightingale singing, 1889), "Za pravdoyu" (For a truth, 1889), "Artyshok" (Artichoke, 1907), "Pivtora oseledsya" (One and a half herring, 1908), a play "Suzhena ne ohuzhena" (1881), a play "Svitova rich" (World thing, 1908) and others.