Writer from the land of childhood

Sincere children’s poems, humoresques, drawings, songs, and acting sketches were presented in Donetsk and also in the Boiko’s native village of Olenivka. In the last day of October a new artistic project was implemented. One of the project’s partners is Den/The Day newspaper. Biological daughter and daughter-in-law of the poet came to the region especially for the celebration of the Ukrainian “Hrytsko” anniversary.

On the first day of the celebration songs to the lyrics by Hryhorii Boiko were performed by soloists of the Philharmonic Society and also young debutants at Donetsk Community Center. Young winners of readers’ competition eagerly recited various poems and prose works of the writer, the puppet theater impressed the audience with the play about a kindergarten teacher and Monkey Zizi on a Crooked Leg. Students of Donetsk School of Culture made both the adults and children laugh with the stories about a boy who kept saying “oh” and a boastful cat. The stage scenery was also extraordinary – paintings of students from Donetsk Art School. Children presented their vision of favorite characters from Boiko’s stories on canvas.

The author of the project art director of the exhibition center “ArtDonbas” Kateryna Kalinichenko said that the next step will be the implementation of the initiative for renaming one of the streets in Donetsk in honor of Boiko. The night ended on a pleasant note: poet’s relatives and active participants of the event received collection of writer’s poetry and books from Den’s Library series as a gift.

On the second day of the anniversary celebration the participants of the event were welcomed in the home village of the poet – Olenivka by the head of the Village Council Viktor Kucherenko. By the way, Olenivka is famous for its flour in Ukraine. For the poet’s daughter Svitlana Luniova it was a special day because it was her first time to ever come to her father’s homeland: “My father has not received so much attention ever before. In our home people have, indeed, always been laughing. Hrytsko Boiko was an extremely kind, sincere, and fun person. We had a happy childhood. That’s why, the impressions and memories of these two days in Donetsk region will stay with me forever.”

“Kolyskova” (Lullaby), “Soloveiko” (Nightingale), “Na Mistochku” (On a Little Bridge) – simple children’s songs performed by singers of Donetsk Philharmonic Society made a great impression on residents of the village. Children from Olenivka recited Boiko’s tongue twisters even better than the actors of the School of Culture. Poetry of Bohdana Boiko – granddaughter of Hryhorii Boiko, was also presented during the celebration. The village library received a gift from The Day: Extracts, The Power of the Soft Sign, Ukraine Incognita, and other books.

Full of impressions of the two days of celebration Iryna BOIKO, Editor-in-Chief of the national publishing house of children’s literature “Veselka” and daughter-in-law of Hryhorii Boiko said: “When people at his homeland, where the umbilical cord is buried, honor our Hryhorii it creates special memories. Boiko dedicated ‘Shakhtarochka’ (Miner girl), ‘My z Donbasu’ (We are from Donbas), and ‘Moia Donechchyna’ (My Native Donetsk Region) and many other poems to his native land. That’s why it is very nice that his land responded with the same kind of love.”