Lesya Ukrainka

Born Larysa Kosach in 1871, she took the name Ukrainka and began publishing poems that refused the sentimental fashion of the time. On the Wings of Songs arrived in 1893, the same year as her epic Ancient Fairy Tale; Thoughts and Dreams and Echos followed by 1902. She turned to drama and found her form: Cassandra, written between 1903 and 1907, and In the Catacombs in 1905 used Greek and early Christian settings to speak about occupied nations. Forest Song came in 1911, a folk-drama that became her most performed work. She was also organizing—pushing for civil rights, women's rights, political…