Olena Pchilka (Olha Petrivna Kosach, née Drahomanova) was born on June 29, 1849. She belongs to the group of figures who, through tireless work in the field of Ukrainian culture, made a significant contribution to the spiritual treasury of their people. Her pen produced works in many literary genres: dramas and comedies, novels, short stories, fables, lyrical poetry, poems, and poetic translations. Olena Pchilka is one of the founders of Ukrainian children's literature. She authored numerous fairy tales, stories, and a whole series of plays that were staged by the children's amateur theater she organized.

A person with a broad worldview and thorough education, Olena Pchilka is also known as an art critic, a critic, and a popularizer of Ukrainian art, a folklorist, and an ethnographer. She loved and knew the Ukrainian language and folk art. She recorded a whole series of songs, rituals, and folk customs and published a research work titled "Ukrainian Ornament." As a true master, she nurtured words and created them. She introduced terms that are now integral to our dictionary, such as "art." Thanks to her, words like "winner," "radiant," and "ardent" became established in our language. She enriched Ukrainian literature with translations from Ovid, Goethe, Andersen, Hugo, Gogol, and Mickiewicz.

Olena Pchilka is among the first Ukrainian women publishers. Together with N. Kobrynska, she founded the almanac of women writers "The First Garland" in Lviv and was the editor-publisher of the magazine "Native Land" with the supplement "Young Ukraine." It was "Native Land" that blessed the first poetic attempts of Pavlo Tychyna and Maksym Rylsky. She devoted a lot of energy and effort to publishing the works of her fellow writers, and she published the famous "Spivomovky" by S. Rudynsky at her own expense.

The writer's heart stopped beating on October 4, 1930. According to Panas Myrny, she was "fertile like the earth, and hardworking like a bee." Olena Pchilka was always faithful to democratic and humanistic ideals, stood on the positions of realism and nationality, and through her creativity and public activities, she sought to serve the cause of the flourishing of Ukrainian literature and culture.

Переглянути віртуальний біографічний нарис «Олена Пчілка – світло добра і любові» українською мовою: https://youtu.be/8BeDYXccshQ?si=xQzrx_yH4RDMLpRk