Ivan Petrovtsii

Ivan Yuriyovych Petrovtsii (22 May 1945 – 1 January 2016) was a Rusyn poet, editor and translator. Born in Transcarpathia, he worked as a soldier and laborer before studying the French language at Uzhhorod State University, where he graduated in 1973. After several years as an elementary school teacher, he became a journalist, but also began writing Ukrainian-language poetry. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, he became active in the Rusyn cultural movement and began writing in Rusyn. One of his collections, Nashi spivanky ('Our Songs') sparked outrage after its publication in 1996 due to its obscene language and condemnation of the newly-independent Ukrainian government; the book was condemned by the national press, as well as by president Leonid Kuchma. He continued to publish Rusyn poetry collections over the following years.