Poltava, Leonid

Poltava, Leonid [Полтава, Леонід], b 24 August 1921 in Vovkivtsi, Romny county, Poltava gubernia, d 19 April 1990 in New York. Writer. As a postwar émigré he lived in Germany, Paris, Madrid, and the United States of America (from 1958). He directed the Ukrainian section of Spanish National Radio (1952–3) and was an editor of émigré periodicals, such as Ukraïns’ki visti, Ukraïnets’-Chas, Svoboda, Vyzvol’nyi shliakh, Krylati, and Ukraïns’ke narodne slovo. He is the author of the poetry collections Za muramy Berlinu (Behind the Walls of Berlin, 1946), Zhovti karuseli (Yellow Carousels, 1948), Ukraïns'ki baliady (Ukrainian Ballads, 1952), Ryms'ki sonety (Roman Sonnets, 1958), Bila trava (White Grass, 1963), Valtorna (1972), Iz espans'koho zshytka (From a Spanish Notebook, 1978), Smak sontsia (A Taste of Sun, 1981), and Poemy (Poems, 1983); the epic poem Eneïda moderna ... (The Modern Aeneid ..., 1955); the plays Choho shumliat' duby (Why the Oaks Rustle, 1950) and Zametil' (The Blizzard, 1967); the story collection U vyshnevii kraïni (In the Cherry Land, 1952); the adventure novella Chy ziide zavtra sontse? (Will the Sun Rise Tomorrow?, 1955); the historical novel 1709 (1960); several longer poems (‘Slovo pro Ukraïnu’ [A Word about Ukraine, 1970]) and poems and stories for children; four opera librettos; and a study of the image of Stepan Bandera in literature and art (1979). He edited the poetry anthology Slovo i zbroia (The Word and Arms, 1968) and an anthology of articles and poetry about Kyiv (1984).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]