Writer and historian Valeriy Shevchuk passed away

At the age of 85, one of the most prominent writers of the Sixtiers generation, a renowned historian, archivist, author of literary and journalistic works, and interpreter of Ukrainian Baroque, Valeriy Shevchuk, has passed away.

“This morning, after a long illness, the great Ukrainian writer and scholar Valeriy Shevchuk passed away. Eternal memory to him,” Ukrainian politician and people’s deputy Mykola Knyazhytsky wrote on his Facebook page.

Shevchuk was born on August 20, 1939, in Zhytomyr. After finishing school in 1956, he dreamed of becoming a geologist. Having then lost interest in this profession, Shevchuk went to Lviv to try to enter the National Forestry University of Ukraine. His attempt to enroll was unsuccessful, and he returned home.

He studied at the Faculty of History and Philosophy of Kyiv University (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv). After graduating, Shevchuk was conscripted into the army.

Shevchuk returned home in 1965 — just as mass political arrests among the Ukrainian intelligentsia began. The writer took part in a protest against the mass repressions at the Ukraina cinema.

The author’s debut work was the short story “Nastunka,” published in the collection “Vinok Kobzarevi” in Zhytomyr in 1961. In 1967, Shevchuk became a member of the National Writers’ Union of Ukraine.

The author’s creative legacy includes numerous historical novels, novellas, and short stories, such as “In the Midweek,” “A House on a Mountain,” “Eye of the Abyss,” and “The Esplanade 12” and many others.

Publications in English: “The Meek Shall Inherit” (trans. of Na poli smyrennomu). Translated by Viktoriia Kholmohorova. Kyiv: Dnipro Publishers, 1989.

In addition, Shevchuk authored around 500 scholarly and journalistic articles on the history of literature, and he was a researcher and translator of works of early Ukrainian literature into modern Ukrainian.

In 1986, he was named an Honored Worker of Polish Culture. The following year, in 1987, Shevchuk was awarded the Shevchenko Prize for his novel “Three Leaves Behind the Window.” In 1999, the writer received the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (5th degree).

In 2007, he was named an honorary professor of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

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Copy editing: Joy Tataryn