YURI VYNNYCHUK

YURI VYNNYCHUK, one of independent Ukraine’s most popular writers, was born in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk in 1952. Unable to have his own works published until the early 1990s due to Soviet cultural policy, Vynnychuk would publish them as “translations” from ancient languages (Old Irish, Old Welsh) or even made up languages, such as “Arcanumian.” Vynnychuk even invented a whole Arcanumian civilization in the 1990s and convinced others of its existence.

Unable to obtain employment as a philologist, Vynnychuk worked as a freight handler and a painter. In 1987, he co-founded the cabaret theater Ne Zhurys! (Don’t Worry!), writing songs and scenes for its performances. Since 1990, Vynnychuk has worked as a journalist, and in 1999, he received the honorary title of Halytskyi Lytsar (Galician Knight) for his weekly article series published under the pseudonym Yuzio Observator (Yuzio the Observer) in the Post-Postup newspaper.

In 1990, Vynnychuk began to publish everything that he had written over the years that had remained unpublished. This has included poetry, short stories, and the novels Malva Landa (2003), Vesniani ihry v osinnikh sadakh (Springtime Games in Autumn Orchards, 2005), and Tango smerti (Tango of Death, 2012). Tango smerti was awarded the prestigious BBC Ukrainian Book of the Year prize for 2012. He has also authored many popular publications covering the history of the city of Lviv; his immensely popular two-volume set Lehendy Lvova (Legends of Lviv) is republished almost every year. In 2015, he published the novel, Aptekar (The Apothecary) and, in 2016, another novel, Tsenzor sniv (The Dream Censor). Vynnychuk’s works have been translated into English, French, German, Japanese, and all Slavic languages. Two books containing Vynnychuk’s Ukrainian translations of Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal have been published: the novel I Served the King of England (2009) and a volume of selected short stories, Kooks (2003).

Yuri Vynnychuk’s events in the Contemporary Ukrainian Literature Series, entitled Tango of Death, took place in November 2013.