Name Dmytro Nytczenko | ||
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Died May 27, 1999, Melbourne, Australia | ||
Dmytro Nytczenko (Ukrainian: Дмитро Нитченко; literary pseudonyms: Dmytro Chub or Ostap Zirchasty; February 21, 1905, Zinkiv, Poltava, Ukraine – May 27, 1999, Melbourne, Australia) was a Ukrainian-born literary critic, novelist, memoirist, editor, literary researcher, teacher, and social activist who lived and worked in Australia.
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He was a laureate of the Skovoroda and Volodymyr Antonovych Prizes, and a member of the Writer's Union of Ukraine.
Vasyl Symonenko Club of Victoria
In the 1954 Dmytro Nytczenko was the initiator, and then President of the Ukrainian Vasyl Symonenko Club of Victoria whose main objectives was educational, literary and cultural activities, including seminars. Membership was open only to active and reputable authors and artists. Over 100 literary recitals and 'author's evenings' were held until 1995. This association also paid particular attention to younger writers, organising recitals for them and holding 'Young Writer's' creative writing competitions, for which it awarded monetary prizes.
Publishing and editing work
One of Nytczenko's most important activities was the editing and production of Novy Obriy (Ukrainian: Новій обрій — "The New Horizon"), a literary almanac published approximately every five years, beginning in 1954. Subtitled 'Literature, Art, Cultural Life', it remains the most significant journal and record of Ukrainian-Australian literary culture of the Ukrainian diaspora in Australia during the period of the second half of the 20th century.
Nytczenko also compiled two anthologies: a collection of poetry entitled Z-pid evkaliptiv: poems (Ukrainian: З-під евкаліптів — "From under the Gumtrees: Poetry") published in 1976; and On the Fence: An Anthology of Ukrainian Prose in Australia (translated into English by Yuri Tkach in 1985). In 1980 an anthology of poetry was published in Adelaide by the local association, the Language and Literature Group of Adelaide, entitled Pivdenny khrest (Ukrainian: Південний хрест — "Southern Cross").