Borys Oliynyk (poet)
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- Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Zaporizhzhia (1992–1998)
- Communist Party of Ukraine, No. 4 (1998–2006)
Borys Oliynyk | |
|---|---|
Борис Олійник | |
 Official Verkhovna Rada portrait, 2002 | |
| People's Deputy of Ukraine | |
| In office 14 December 1992 – 25 May 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished (1998) |
| Constituency |
|
| People's Deputy of the Soviet Union | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 October 1935 Zachepylivka, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Died | 30 April 2017 (aged 81) Kyiv, Ukraine |
| Party | Communist Party of Ukraine (1993–2005) |
| Other political affiliations | |
| Alma mater | Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv |
Borys Illich Oliynyk (Ukrainian: Борис Ілліч Олійник; Russian: Борис Ильич Олейник, romanized: Boris Ilyich Oleynik; 22 October 1935 – 30 April 2017) was a Soviet and Ukrainian writer and politician who was a People's Deputy of Ukraine from 1990 to 2006. Oliynyk was one of the leaders of the People's Movement of Ukraine and later a founder of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
Borys Illich Oliynyk was born on 22 October 1935 in the village of Zachepylivka, in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv Oblast.[1][2] His father, Illia Oliynyk, was a journalist, and was working in Ternopil Oblast when Operation Barbarossa began in 1941. He was killed in action in 1943. Oliinyk later recalled that he had been taken as a prisoner alongside his mother, but that his blonde hair prevented them from being executed after his mother was mistaken for being Polish.[3]
Oliinyk graduated from secondary education in 1953 and began studying at Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv's faculty of journalism that year. He graduated in 1958,[2] becoming a journalist at Molod Ukrayiny after his graduation.[4]
Literary career
Oliynyk's literary career began in 1948, while he was still studying at Novi Sanzhary Secondary School. In his fifth year of school his poetry began being published in the local newspaper; he would later contribute articles and essays to the paper as a senior student. While studying at the University of Kyiv, he was part of the Sixtiers. He became a close acquaintance of several other young Ukrainian writers at this time, among them Vasyl Symonenko.[5]
Oliynyk became a member of the Writers' Union of Ukraine in 1963, and was its deputy chairman between 1971 and 1974. He was also a secretary of the board at the Writers' Union of Ukraine from 1971 to 1974 and at the Union of Soviet Writers from 1976 to 1991.[1] Between 1962 and 1968 he published eight poetry collections, followed by a ninth, The Truth, in 1976.[5] During his lifetime, he published a total of fifty works, including poetry collections and books on history, literature, journalism and literary criticism.[1] He was also an editor at three journals (Ranok, Vitchyzna and Dnipro).[4] Oliynyk was also the branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union within the Writers' Union of Ukraine for eleven years. He noted as an achievement that no member of the Writers' Union was imprisoned or expelled during his tenure.[2]
Oliynyk became a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 2017. He was at one time the head of the nominating committee for the Shevchenko National Prize.[6]
