Stepan Oleinik

Oleinik, Stepan Ivanovich 

Born Mar. 21 (Apr. 3), 1908, in the village of Pasisely, present-day Balta Raion, Odessa Oblast. Soviet Ukrainian poet. Member of the CPSU since 1952. Fought in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

Oleinik graduated from the department of literature of the Odessa Pedagogical Institute in 1934. His works were first published in 1926. He is the author of numerous collections of humorous verse and feuilletons, as well as the collection of biographical short stories From the Book of Life (1964).

Oleinik’s poetry is noted for its topicality, satirical wit, political commitment, and rich Ukrainian humor. His verse often appears in Pravda and other leading publications. It has also been translated into many foreign languages. Oleinik received the State Prize of the USSR in 1950 for the poetry collection Our Acquaintances (1948). He has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, the order of the Badge of Honor, and a number of medals.

WORKS

Tvory, vols. 1–2. Kiev, 1964.
Tvory, vols. 1–3. Kiev, 1968.
Humor i satyra. [Introductory article by Iu. Burliai.] Kiev, 1959.
In Russian translation:
Izbr. stikhi. Moscow, 1952.
Satira i iumor. [Introductory article by D. Zaslavskii.] Moscow, 1963.
Pes Barbos i neobychnyi kross. Moscow, 1968.

REFERENCES

Zasenko, O. “Stepan Oliinyk.” In Literaturni portrety, vol. 2. Kiev, 1960.
Duz’, I. M. Stepan Oliinyk: Narys pro zhyttia i tvorchist’. Kiev, 1965.

IU. S. BURLIAI