Myroslava Sopilka

Myroslava Sopilka was born in Vynnyky, Lviv oblast on 29 August 1897 as one of five children[1] in the family of peasants.[2]

Her works were first published in 1928 in the magazines Vikna, Syaivo, and various newspapers.[3] At the end of 1930, she moved with her husband and two children[4] to Soviet Ukraine, first to the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, where she worked in the local history museum. Then (1932) Myroslava Sopilka moved to Kharkiv.[5] She was a member of the Western Ukraine literary organization.[6] In 1931 she published the book of poems Working Hands. She also acted as a novelist, leaving the novel The Cozy City of Superstitions.

On 12 May 1929, Myroslava Sopilka was among the founders of the literary group Gorno - with her were Vasyl Bobynskyi, Andriy Voloshchak, Oleksandr Gavrylyuk, Yaroslav Galan, Petro Kozlanyuk, Yaroslav Kondra, Nina Matulivna, and Stepan Tudor.[3]

On 30 September 1937, Myroslava Sopilka was arrested together with her husband Mykhailo Pastushenko and accused of spying for Polish intelligence.[2] During the interrogations, neither she nor her husband compromised themselves in anything and rejected all the accusations of the investigation.[2] And yet, on 22 November 1937, a special meeting of the The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the USSR (NKVD) sentenced the poet to be shot. The sentence was executed on 28 November in Kyiv.[5] Most likely, her body was buried at the Lukyaniv Cemetery.[7] For a long time, nothing was known about her fate. It was officially believed that she died in exile on 18 November 1942.

Myroslava Sopilka was rehabilitated posthumously.[2]

A street in the city of Vynnyky is named after Myroslava Sopilka.

In 1973, a collection of selected works of Myroslava Sopilka To the Sun was published.