Dmytro Pavlychko

Dmytro Vasylyovych Pavlychko (Ukrainian: Дмитро Васильович Павличко; 28 September 1929 – 29 January 2023) was a Ukrainian poet, translator, scriptwriter, culturologist, and politician.

Pavlychko published poetry and translations since the 1950s. His work came under censorship from the Soviet Government. Pavlychko, who had been imprisoned as a Ukrainian Nationalist following World War II, would work within the constraints of the Soviet state and become a well regarded author and William Shakespeare scholar in Russia and Ukraine.

Following the easing of censorship in the late 1980's, Pavlychko would help shape Ukrainian statehood. He entered politics and would co-create Ukraine's first independent political party. In 1990, he co-authored the "Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine," declaring Ukrainian law overruled Soviet law.

Pavlychko was also a member of the Verkhovna Rada for two terms in the 1990s. He served as Ukraine's Ambassador to Slovakia and later to Poland.