Nataliya Kobrynska

• Name — Nataliya Kobrynska • Native Name — Наталія Кобринська • Birth Name — Nataliya Ozarkevych • Born — 8 June 1855 • Birthplace — Beleluia, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austrian Empire (now in Sniatyn urban hromada, Kolomyia Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine) • Died — 22 January 1920 • Place of death — Bolekhiv, Ukraine • Occupation — Writer, activist • Spouse — Theofil Kobrynsky • Mother — Teofilia Okunevska • Father — Ivan Ozarkevych

The daughter of Reverend Ivan Ozarkevych, a priest who was later elected to the Austrian Parliament, and Teofilia Okunevska, she was born Nataliya Ozarkevych in the village of Beleluia in the Galicia province of Austria-Hungary. At that time, women were not allowed to pursue education beyond the elementary level and so she was mainly educated at home. She studied several languages: German, French, Polish and Russian and read literature from various counties. In 1871, she married Theofil Kobrynsky. He died a few years later and she was forced to return to Bolekhiv to live with her parents. Kobrynska went to Vienna with her father, where she met Ivan Franko; Franko encouraged her to take on the task of improving the status of Ukrainian women and to encourage them to seek equality with men. In 1884, she organized the Tovarystvo Ruskykh Zhinok (Association of Ruthenian Women) to educate women by exposing them to literature and by promoting discussions on women's rights. In 1890, she was part of a delegation that lobbied the Minister of Education to allow women to attend university. She also advocated universal suffrage, day care and communal kitchens. She wrote her first short story "Shuminska" (later known as The Spirit of the Times, in 1883; the following year, she wrote a novella Zadlia kusnyka khliba (For a Piece of Bread). In 1887, with Olena Pchilka, she edited Pershyi vinok (The First Garland), a collection of writing by Ukrainian women. Kobrynska's publishing house Zhinocha Sprava (Women’s Cause) produced three issues of a women's almanac called Nasha dolya (Our Fate), which included works by Ukrainian writer Anna Pavlyk. In 1893-1896, Natalia Kobrynska became involved in publishing. Her publishing house, Women's Business, published three books of the almanac Our Destiny. In order to establish more efficient book publishing, Natalia Kobrynska moved to Lviv, seeking better conditions for popularizing feminist ideas. • Illustration — The board and members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ivan Kotliarevsky's Eneida, Lviv, 31 October 1898: Sitting in the first row: Mykhaylo Pavlyk, Yevheniya Yaroshynska, Natalia Kobrynska, Olha Kobylianska, Sylvester Lepky, Andriy Chaykovsky, Kost Pankivsky. In the second row: Ivan Kopach, Volodymyr Hnatiuk, Osyp Makovej, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Ivan Franko, Oleksander Kolessa, Bohdan Lepky. Standing in the third row: Ivan Petrushevych, Filaret Kolessa, Yossyp Kyshakevych, Ivan Trush, Denys Lukianovych, Mykola Ivasyuk. Kobrynska died in Bolekhiv in 1920. Her work was translated to English for the collections The Spirit of the Times (1998) and Warm the Children, O Sun (1998). Broken was also translated by Hannah Leliv & Slava Faybysh for Virginia's Sisters: An Anthology of Women's Writings (2023).