To speak about such Ukrainian poet as Vasyl Stus is not such an easy task as it might seem. The thing is that the names of such writers as Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, Ivan Franko are well-known to the readers, but they belonged to the previous century. As for the names of modern writers, they are not so well-known as they should.

Vasyl Simonenko is one of the greatest and most popular Ukrainian poets. He was born on the 8th of January 1935 in the village of Byivtsy in Poltavskaya region. His father died very early, so his childhood was rather difficult. He studied at school very well and in 1952 he entered Kyiv University at the department of journalism. Vasyl began to write his poems when he was studying at the University, but the first book of poems “Silence and Thunder” appeared only in 1962. It was a period of the Ukrainian poetry revival. Vasyl’s first book of poetry proved the fact that the new name which was worth attention of contemporaries appeared.

Lina Kostenko, a wide known Ukrainian poetess, was born on March 19, 1930 in Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region, into the family of school teachers. She studied at Kiev Pedagogical Institute and graduated from Gorky Institute of literature in Moscow. Her first poems were published in the early 1950s.

 Larisa Kosach (pen name Lesia Ukrainka) was born in Novgorod-Volynsky on February 25, 1871 which is now in Zhytomir Region. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was a Ukrainian writer (pen-name Olena Pchilka). When Lesia was nine, her parents moved to the town of Lutsk and settled at an estate near Kovel. Because of weak health and the absence of school with instruction in the Ukrainian language, Lesia received education at home. She had a remarkable aptitude for the humanities.

Ivan Franko was born on the 27lh of August 1856 in Drohobych county, Galicia. The son of the village blacksmith Ivan graduated from gymnasium in 1875 and began to study classical philology, Ukrainian Language and literature at Lviv University. His first literary works were published in the student’s magazine. Franko’s political and publishing activities attracted the attention of the police and in 1877 he was arrested for spreading socialist propaganda. After spending 8 months in prison Franko returned to political work. He helped organize journal “Zona” and the newspaper “Dilo”.

Taras Shevchenko, born 9 March 1814 in Moryntsi, Kyiv gubernia, died 10 March 1861 in St.Petersburg, Russia. Artist, poet, and national bard of Ukraine was born a serf. Shevchenko was orphaned in his early teens and grew up in poverty. At the age of 14 he was taken by his owner, Engelhardt, to serve as houseboy, and travelled with him, first to Vilnus and to StPetersburg. Engelhardt noticed Shevchenko’s artistic talent and apprenticed him to the painter Shiriaev for four years.

Ukraine is situated in the south-eastern part of Europe. It occupies the territory of about 603700 square kilometres and administratively is divided into 24 regions, and the Crimean autonomous republic. The population of Ukraine is near 52 million people. The country is inhabited by the Ukrainians and representatives of more than 100 nationalities.