Ihor Kalynets, prominent Ukrainian poet and dissident, dies
28 June 19:17
A prominent Ukrainian poet, writer, dissident, and long-term political prisoner of the Soviet regime, Ihor Kalynets, has died at the age of 86.
This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi.
The death of the poet was announced today, June 28, by his daughter Dzvenyslava Kalynets-Mamchur on her Facebook page.
Later, the mayor of Lviv expressed his condolences to Kalynets’ family.
He noted that Ihor Kalynets was an honorary citizen of Lviv, a poet, writer, dissident, and a long-term political prisoner of Soviet camps.
“Together with Iryna Kalynets, they became the voice of Ukrainian dignity in the darkest times. May their memory be cherished. My sincere condolences to their families and friends. Lviv is grieving,” he added.
Ihor Kalynets was one of the key figures of the Ukrainian Sixties movement, a poet, public figure and former political prisoner.
Born in 1939 in the city of Khodoriv in the Lviv region, he studied philology at Lviv University and worked in archives and libraries.
His life was closely connected with the dissident movement and samizdat: in 1972 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet activities” and sentenced to 6 years in camps and 3 years in exile.
He served his sentence in Perm camps together with Vasyl Stus, Ivan Svitlychnyi, and other Ukrainian intellectuals.
Together with his wife, Iryna Kalynets, he became a symbol of unbreakable dignity and the struggle for Ukrainian identity in Soviet times.
The author of numerous poetry collections, Ihor Kalynets no longer wrote poetry for adults after his exile, instead focusing on children’s literature and cultural activities. He has received a number of prestigious awards, some of which he deliberately refused to accept as a sign of protest against Russification.
