Mushketyk, Yurii

Mushketyk, Yurii [Мушкетик, Юрій; Mušketyk, Jurij], b 21 March 1929 in Vertiivka, Nizhyn raion, Nizhyn okruha (now in Chernihiv oblast), d 6 June 2019 in Kyiv. Writer and community activist. He graduated from the philological faculty at Kyiv University (1953) and received his candidate’s degree there. For many years he was editor of the journal Dnipro and headed the Kyiv oblast writers’ organization and in 1986 he became the first secretary of the executive of the Writers' Union of Ukraine and headed the union until 2001. He is the author of numerous novels and novelettes, many of them on historical subjects, such as Semen Palii (1954), Haidamaky (Haidamakas, 1957), and Iasa (1987), and many about contemporary life, such as Den' prolitaie nad namy (The Day Flies Past above Us, 1967), Bila tin' (White Shadow, 1977), and Vernysia v dim svii (Return to Your Home, 1981). Of particular note is the finely written satirical novel Obval (The Crumbling Away, 1985). Mushketyk also wrote works of children's literature, the documentary novel Na kruti hory (Onto Steep Mountains, 1976), the play Ne kydai mene v dorozi (Don’t Forsake Me on the Way, 1969), the critical biography Anatolii Shyian (1960), and other works. As first secretary of the Writers' Union of Ukraine Mushketyk took an active role in the struggle for the rebirth of the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture.

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