Kobrynska, Nataliia

Kobrynska, Nataliia [Kobryns’ka, Natalija; née Ozarkevych], b 8 June 1851 in Beleluia, Sniatyn circle, d 22 January 1920 in Bolekhiv, Dolyna county, Galicia. Writer and pioneer of the Ukrainian women's movement in Galicia; daughter of Ivan I. Ozarkevych. In 1884 she organized the Society of Ruthenian Women in Stanyslaviv. Three years later she edited and published, with Olena Pchilka, the first feminist almanac, Pershyi vinok (The First Garland). In 1891 she convened in Stryi the first public feminist meeting, at which she raised the issue of day-care centers. In 1893 she published a second almanac, Nasha dolia (Our Fate, further issues in 1895 and 1896), and in 1907 a third almanac, Zhinocha dolia (Women's Fate). Kobrynska's short stories deal with women's and social issues, psychological themes, folk beliefs, and the First World War. They were also published in several collections— Zadlia kusnyka khliba (For the Sake of a Piece of Bread, 1884), Dukh chasu (The Spirit of the Times, 1889), Vyborets’ (The Elector, 1904), Kazky (Fairy Tales, 1904), Iadzia i Katrusia ta inshi opovidannia (Yadzia and Katrusia and Other Stories, 1904)—and in editions of collected or selected works (1930, 1954, 1958). A commemorative biography— Smoloskyp u temriavi: Nataliia Kobryns’ka i ukraïns’kyi zhinochyi rukh (A Torch in the Darkness: Nataliia Kobrynska and the Ukrainian Women's Movement, 1957) by Irena Knysh—appeared in Canada. A bibliography of her works by P. Babiak was published in 1967.

Danylo Husar Struk

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]