Vovk Vira

The foundation of the library and archival collection of the writer, translator, and literary scholar Vira Vovk at the Scientific Library of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was laid on November 27, 1997, when the National Commission for the Restitution of Cultural Property under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ceremonially transferred 80 printed publications to the University.
Over the following years, the collection continued to grow through donations from its owner. As of January 1, 2026, the collection comprises 4,988 items representing 4,214 titles, including books and journals in Ukrainian, Portuguese, German, English, French, Polish, Czech, Slovenian, Greek, and other languages.
The collection is primarily devoted to literary studies and fiction. It includes a complete set of Vira Vovk’s own works, including such collections as Vesniane Diistvo (Spring Ritual), Zymove Diistvo (Winter Ritual), Zhinochi Masky (Women’s Masks), and others.
Also represented are publications from the Pysanka and Vertep series, which feature Vira Vovk’s translations of works by Ukrainian writers, including Hryhorii Skovoroda, Taras Shevchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, Vasyl Stefanyk, Ivan Franko, Valerii Shevchuk, Ivan Drach, and others.
The collection also includes books published by the New York Group Press in Chicago, among them Volodymyr Demus’s Na Liudskykh Ozerakh (On Human Lakes) and Maria Rewakowicz’s Shepotinnia: Poezii (Whisperings: Poems). Vira Vovk’s collection contains numerous poetry volumes by both established and emerging authors, including several rare and unique editions. Among them are Dostoino… Yest: Antolohiia Ukrainskoi Mariiskoi Poezii (It Is Truly Meet: An Anthology of Ukrainian Marian Poetry) (Rome, 1971) and Mlada sovetska poezie (Prague, 1965). The latter contains poems by then young and little-known Ukrainian writers Lina Kostenko, Ivan Drach, Vitalii Korotych, and Mykola Vinhranovskyi translated into Czech.
A list of books in the Vira Vovk Collection may be accessed through the NaUKMA Library Electronic Catalogue by searching for “Vovk” in the “Donor” field.
In the 1990s, Vira Vovk transferred her archival materials to the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Arts of Ukraine and to the H. S. Pshenychnyi Central State CinePhotoPhono Archive of Ukraine. However, in 2007, following the scientific and technical processing of the archive, duplicate archival materials, as well as a portion of visual documents and postcards, were transferred to the NaUKMA Scientific Library.
Archival Collection No. 15, “Vovk (Selianska), Vira Ostapivna,” consists of 145 archival files and includes the writer’s creative materials, biographical documents, correspondence, collected biographical and creative materials of other individuals, and visual materials.
Vira Vovk’s scholarly and literary works are represented in all genres in which she worked - poetry, prose, translations, and scholarly articles, and comprise 25 archival units. The original letters and greeting cards addressed to Vira Vovk provide insight into the broad circle of correspondents with whom she collaborated, communicated, and maintained friendships.
The collection preserves autographs and correspondence from prominent Ukrainian figures in scholarship, culture, and the Church, including M. Antonovych, V. Barka, I. Kostetskyi, O. Pritsak, Z. Lisovska, V. Moroz, L. Onyshkevych, Y. Solovii, U. Starosolska, M. Frantsuzhenko, Y. Shevelov, I. Drach, L. Kostenko, M. Kotsiubynska, S. Maidanska, Y. Mushketyk, members of the Svitlychnyi family, Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, and Bishop Myroslav Marusyn.
The museum exhibition dedicated to Vira Vovk was established through the support of the Oleksandr Dmytriv Memorial Foundation.
Of particular historical and biographical value are documents relating to Vira Vovk’s studies at German universities, as well as a collection of her personal documents, including a curriculum vitae, copies of diplomas and certificates, and covers of her published works.
The distinguished Ukrainian emigrant writer and literary scholar passed away in Rio de Janeiro on July 16, 2022 at the age of ninety-six.

Bekisheva, O. I. “Combining the Incompatible: Exoticism and Ukrainianness in Literary Works from the Vira Vovk Collection.” In Personal Book Collections and Personal Archives of Ukrainian Diaspora Figures in the Libraries and Archives of Ukraine: Conference Proceedings, compiled by N. Kazakova and O. Mastipan. Kyiv, 2004, pp. 90–97.
Sydorchuk, T. M. “The Book, Archival, and Art Collections of Vira Vovk at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy: Content Characteristics and Distinctive Features.” In Through the Centuries Your Voice Resounds: Proceedings of the Conference Dedicated to the Anniversary of Vira Vovk, edited by Nadiia Havryliuk. Drohobych: Kolo, 2021, pp. 9–29.
The collection is fully represented in the Electronic Catalogue.
Vira Vovk Art Collection at the NaUKMA Scientific Library
Collection Profile
Photos
Photo Report from an Evening Meeting with Vira Vovk at NaUKMA
Fond No. 1212, Inventory No. 2 of Permanent Preservation Files, 1825, 1932–2008 (inclusive dates of documents). The fond is preserved at the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Arts of Ukraine.