Oles Honchar's wife is celebrating her 100th birthday
Today, July 23, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Valentina Gonchar—a journalist, literary scholar, public figure, and wife of the distinguished Ukrainian writer Oles Gonchar. Throughout her life, she was not only a steadfast support to her husband but also the first critic and editor of his works.
According to an official, Valentina Gonchar was not only a pillar of support for this classic of Ukrainian literature throughout his life, but also his first critic and editor. After her husband’s death, she devoted decades to preserving his cultural legacy: she organized his archive and worked to ensure the publication of his diaries, letters, and works.
On the occasion of her anniversary, the honoree received congratulations from the city’s leadership and a commemorative gift — a copy of the publication of Oles Honchar’s short story “Provesin” in the newspaper “Vechirniy Kyiv” dated May 7, 1955.
What Is Known About Oles Honchar
Oleksandr Bilychenko was born on April 3, 1918, in the village of Lomivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region. At the age of three, after his mother’s death, his grandparents took him to the village of Sukhe in Poltava Oblast. A new birth certificate was issued for him, stating that he was born in Sukhe. From then on, Oles himself listed this village as his place of birth in his autobiographies and personal profiles. That is why some reference books still state that Gonchar was born in the Poltava region.
In the Poltava region, the writer completed seven years of schooling and worked at a local newspaper. It was from the newspaper’s editorial office that he was sent to a technical school for journalism in Kharkiv. Later, he became a student in the Department of Philology.
As part of a student battalion in 1941, Oles Gonchar volunteered to serve on the front lines of World War II and was taken prisoner. The writer described the life of his battalion in the novel *Man and Weapon*. He was demobilized from the army in December 1945.
Three years after the war, Oles Honchar wrote the novel *The Standard-Bearers*. In the work, he depicted the journey taken by Ukrainian officers and soldiers in 1944–1945 through Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
He later published numerous works on wartime themes. The writer was awarded the Lenin Prize for his novel *Tronka*. And in 1968, *The Cathedral* was published, a work on which Gonchar had labored for four years. For this work, the writer was accused of undermining the state system and denigrating the authorities of the time. The novel was banned from publication for nearly 20 years. Oles Honchar was spared imprisonment thanks to his fame and the support of a small group of colleagues.
In 1987, the writer became one of the founders of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. It was the first non-governmental charitable organization dedicated to the revival of the national culture of all peoples living in Ukraine.
“Russia will be destroyed by the hatred it stokes within itself—hatred toward Ukraine,” said Oles Honchar.
The writer lived to be 77 years old and passed away on July 14, 1995. He is buried at the Baikove Cemetery.
This was reported with reference to Marina Khonda, deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration for local self-government affairs.
An exhibition titled “Kyiv – Venice” will open in Kyiv.
M17 notes that this project is an experiment in creating an open artistic ecosystem where artists and viewers can not only observe but also interact, learn from one another, and together seek new meanings through contemporary Ukrainian art. You can register for the opening via this link.
As a reminder, the prominent Ukrainian émigré artist Zoya Lisovska-Nizhankivska has passed away.
On the night of July 21, Oleksandr Garbarchuk, a soloist with the “Life” Dance Theater and Honored Artist of Ukraine, passed away. He had been battling cancer for a long time.
