Ihor Kalynets has been nominated for the Nobel Prize

The academic council of the Franko Institute of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine has nominated prominent poet, writer, public figure Ihor Kalynets for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The nominating team has been doing the required paperwork so far.

Kalynets is an original, versatile poet with a complicated creative career, as the Soviet regime convicted him of the “crimes” he allegedly committed by writing his poems. He is one of the most prominent representatives of the so-called late Sixtier generation and dissident samizdat movement in Ukraine, a former political prisoner, an honorary doctor of Lviv National University.

Acting academic secretary of the Franko Institute of the NAS of Ukraine Halyna Lyshak told The Day: “We have had Kalynets nominated because he is a poet with a very interesting and original style. Also, one can trace throughout his life the steady position which he has declared in his poetry and for which he suffered. It includes the motif of freedom of the human person, the right to national identity and individuality. I think this is extremely important. We have been doing the required paperwork so far, and once the package is ready, we will submit it to the Swedish Academy. As for receiving nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature, the campaign will continue until the end of January. Hopefully, we will make it in time.”

Let us recall that Kalynets’s creative legacy includes 17 collections, making up two cycles: The Awakened Muse (1962-72) and The Enslaved Muse (1973-81). His works have been translated into English, German, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and many other languages. He won the Shevchenko State Prize of Ukraine in 1992, Franko (Chicago, 1977) and Stus (1992) Prizes, the Antonovych Family International Prize (1998) and the Calvir-i-Quir International Poetry Prize (France, 2003). The artist commented on the news of his nomination thus: “When I was told about it, I reacted quite negatively. First, I consider myself a minor poet, and secondly, I used as a counterargument the fact that the Nobel drive of Vasyl Holoborodko is still going on. In my opinion, he is our top poet and should represent Ukraine. I was told then that one nation may nominate several candidates, or even a few dozen of them. For example, Poland and France have nominated many candidates. They did not listen to me, even though I dislike all this attention, and moreover, I have no realistic chance to win the contest. However, if they want to submit a certain amount of literature product from our country, I have accepted it,” Kalynets explained.