Biography

Basic information

  • Full name: Oksana Vasylivna Zabuzhko
  • Date of birth: September 19, 1960
  • Place of birth: Lutsk, Ukraine
  • Native surname: Zabuzki

Childhood and family

  • Lived in Lutsk until 8 years old
  • Father was under the supervision of the KGB for several years, because of which the family moved to Kyiv

Education

  • 1977–1982 β€” faculty of philosophy of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv University
  • 1985 β€” graduate studies in aesthetics at the same university
  • PhD thesis: "Aesthetic nature of lyrics as a kind of art"

Political and social activism

  • Member of the CPSU (before the collapse of the USSR)
  • Participant of the Revolution on Granite (1990)

Academic and teaching activities

  • 1989–… β€” senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
  • Taught aesthetics:
  • Kyiv State Conservatory named after P. AND. Tchaikovsky
  • Harvard University
  • Yale University
  • Columbia University
  • 1992 β€” invited lecturer of Ukrainian studies at the University of Pennsylvania
  • 1994 β€” scholarship holder of the Fulbright Foundation; lectures at Harvard and the University of Pittsburgh

Literary creativity

  • 1985 β€” debut collection of poems "May Frost"
  • 1996 β€” long-selling novel "Field studies on Ukrainian sex"
  • The first publication established the status of the most popular Ukrainian-language author (total circulation over 65,000 copies by January 1, 2003)
  • Author of numerous essays and cultural articles in domestic and foreign periodicals
  • Writing an author's column in magazines ("Panorama", "Stolichnye novosti", etc.)
  • Conducting literary master classes at Kyiv University

Translations and international recognition

  • The poems have been translated into 16 languages
  • 1997 β€” Global Commitment Foundation Poetry Prize (USA)
  • Other honors:
  • Helen Scherban-Lapik Foundation (USA, 1996)
  • The Kovalev Foundation (1997)
  • The Rockefeller Foundation (1998)
  • Department of Culture of the City of Munich (1999)
  • Ledig-Rovolt Foundation (2001)
  • Graz Department of Culture (2002)

Financial independence

  • Lives on writer's fees
  • A significant share of income from foreign publications, especially in Europe and the USA

Membership and recognition in Ukraine

  • Member of the Association of Ukrainian Writers
  • 2006 β€” in the TOP-100 "Most Influential People in Ukraine" rating (Correspondent magazine)
  • June 2006 β€” the novel "Let My People Go" became the best Ukrainian book according to the readers of the magazine "Correspondent" (No. 1)

The highest state honors

  • January 16, 2009 β€” Order of Princess Olga III degree (Decree of the President of Ukraine V. Yushchenko)
  • 2012 β€” honorary title "Golden Writer of Ukraine"