“Destiny does not smile at those who are slaves at heart” Renowned Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko celebrates her birthday
On March 19, Lina Kostenko, a major contemporary Ukrainian poet and writer, celebrates her 92nd birthday.
Kostenko played a significant role in the evolution of Ukrainian literature and culture from the 1960s onward. She was a leading representative of the Poets and Writers of the Sixties, an intellectual and cultural movement in Ukraine, which opposed the Soviet political regime. Kostenko’s poetry consists primarily of intimate, lyric poems and “social” poems on the role and responsibility of a poet, particularly in a totalitarian society.
Employing diverse rhythms, sophisticated language, a colloquial and aphoristic manner of writing, ranging from playful irony and humor to scathing satire, she is acknowledged as one of the best modern Ukrainian poets. A wise and prophetic contemporary, she wrote, “Every nation has its diseases. Russia’s disease is uncurable”.
