Luna

Luna («Луна»; Echo). A Ukrainian literary almanac published by Luka Ilnytsky, with the help of Oleksander Konysky, in Kyiv in 1881. It was the first Ukrainian-language collection to be published in Russian-ruled Ukraine after the prohibition of Ukrainian-language publications by the tsarist Ems Ukase of 1876. In it were published poems by Taras Shevchenko, O. Konysky, Mykhailo Starytsky, Yakiv Shchoholiv, and Vasyl Mova, as well as Ivan Nechui-Levytsky’s novel Pryiateli (Friends) and essay ‘Shevchenkova mohyla ...’ (Shevchenko’s Grave) and M. Starytsky’s vaudeville Iak kovbasa ta charka ... (If [There Is] Sausage and a Shot Glass ...). The publication of Luna initiated a series of literary-art almanacs in central Ukraine, particularly in Kyiv, and stimulated the renewal of literary activity.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]