Iryna Lapchuk (1930 – 2017) – a political prisoner and a poet. She was born in January 1930 in Lviv, Ukraine. Iryna wrote poetry in Ukrainian and was persecuted by the Soviet authorities for preserving the national Ukrainian identity. Iryna’s granddaughter, translator Tatyana Pitchulina, sent her poem to the project #FreeAllWords.
Tatyana has been taking part in the project since its beginning and translates poems by Ukrainian and Belarusian authors into Finish.
„My grandmother Iryna Lapchuk was a very lovely and reasonable lady with an artistic approach and a difficult destiny, a political prisoner. In addition to writing poems, she embroidered amazing carpets and tablecloths with Ukrainian ornaments and butterflies every day; one of her poems is how this helped her to overcome the pain. She also took care of her garden and very beautiful flowers outside her home, growing them in front of her window. She loved to feed pigeons and to watch them, as well“.
Tatyana Pitchulina, #FreeAllWords
