Oles Ulianenko


Oleksandr Stanislavovych Ulianenko was a Ukrainian writer known by the pen name Oles Ulianenko. He was the youngest winner of the Shevchenko National Prize, which he received in 1997, at the age of 35, for his novel Stalinka.
He also won awards from the magazines Suchasnist and Blahovist.

Personal life

Ulianenko graduated from Mykolaiv Nautical School and fought in the Soviet Air Forces against Germany and Afghanistan. While living in Leningrad, he became acquainted with local rock music, learned to play the guitar and tried to form a band. He was married for seven years before getting divorced.

Career

At various points, Ulianenko's work was censored by the Ukrainian government for its explicit content. In 2009, for example, Ukraine's National Television and Broadcasting Council, on the recommendation of the National Expert Commission of Ukraine on the Protection of Public Morality, blocked the publication of his novel Жінка його мрії.
Ulianenko's last work published during his lifetime was a criminal melodrama called Там, де Південь, released in December 1999. In 2000, he wrote the screenplay for the film Украдене Щастя with the director Andrii Donchyk, based on a play of the same name by Ivan Franko. The fourth part of the film was released in 2004.
The book Oles Ulianenko: Without Censorship was released on August 15, 2010, to mark Ulianenko's 48th birthday. It includes approximately 40 interviews with him conducted by multiple publications and television channels from 1994–2010. It also includes a detailed description and documents from Ulianenko's lawsuit against the National Expert Commission of Ukraine on the Protection of Public Morality, prepared by his lawyer, Oleh Veremiienko.
Ulianenko died on August 17, 2010, in his apartment in Kiev under unclear circumstances. He was buried in Kiev Baikove Cemetery.
In April 2013, a revised edition of The Woman of His Dreams was published.

Novels