Pavlo Zahrebelnyi
Pavlo Arhypovych Zahrebelnyi or Zagrebelnyi was a Ukrainian novelist.Biography
He graduated from secondary school in 1941. That same year, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, he enlisted the Red Army, participated in the Battle of Kiev, and was severely wounded. After recovering, he was returned to service again and received another serious wound in August, 1942. On that occasion, he was captured and was in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp until February, 1945.
Upon his release, he worked for the Soviet military mission in West Germany, then served as a journalist at a collective farm. In 1951, he began studying philology at Dnepropetrovsk State University. This was followed by several editorial positions; notably as deputy editor-in-chief for the journal . He was the editor-in-chief of Literaturna Ukrayina from 1961 to 1963. It was during this time that he started writing novels.
From 1973 to 1986, he held several positions at the National Writers' Union of Ukraine, eventually becoming First Secretary, despite efforts by the poet Boris Oliynyk to deny him that position. He was awarded the Shevchenko National Prize in 1974 and the USSR State Prize in 1980. He also received the Hero of Ukraine award for his works on August 25, 2004.
One of his best known novels is Roksolana, about the life of Anastasia Lisovska, a Ruthenian girl from Galicia who became a wife of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent and played a prominent role in the sixteenth century Ottoman Empire.
On February 5, 2009 President Victor Yushchenko paid his last respects to Zahrebelnyi.
Zahrebelny's books have been translated into 23 languages.
