Livytska-Kholodna, Natalia [Лівицька-Холодна, Наталя; Livyc'ka-Xolodna, Natalja], b 15 June 1902 in Helmiaziv, Poltava gubernia, d 26 March 2005 in Toronto, Canada. Poet; daughter of Andrii Livytsky and Mariia Livytska, sister of Mykola Livytsky, wife of Petro P. Kholodny. After the defeat of the Ukrainian struggle for independence (1917–20) she emigrated to Czechoslovakia where she established contacts with such Ukrainian poets, as Yevhen Malaniuk and Yurii Darahan. She moved to Warsaw in 1927 and in 1929 became one of the organizers of the literary group Tank, which in 1933 was reorganized into the literary group My, also known as the Warsaw Group, associated with the Variah publishing house and the literary and arts journal My. In 1933 she completed her studies in Romance philology at the Warsaw University. Her early poetry appeared in Literaturno-naukovyi vistnyk, the journal Vistnyk, and the journal My.. Although she was one of Dmytro Dontsov’s favorite authors, Livytska-Kholodna maintained a principled position in the conflict between the younger generation of Ukrainian writers living outside the Ukrainian SSR and the politicized camp of nationalist writers, represented by Dontsov. Her poetry can be divided into two periods: before the Second World War and after the war. Her poems of the first period were published in collections Vohon' i popil (Fire and Ashes, 1934) and Sim liter (Seven Letters, 1937). She published the next book of poetry, Poezii stari i novi (Old and New Poems), in 1986, following a 49-year hiatus. The new book included three separate poetic collections: Na hrani (On the Edge, 1944–67), Perekotypole (Tumbleweed, 1968–76), and Ostannia diia (The Final Act, 1979–85). Her poems from this book—whether erotic, lyrical, philosophical, patriotic, or quotidian—are distinctly modernist.

Livytska-Kholodna was an engaged participant in the Ukrainian women's movement and in the 1930s she contributed to the Union of Ukrainian Women’s journal Zhinka. A displaced person after the Second World War, she eventually settled in the United States of America, where she was active in the Ukrainian National Women's League of America. In addition to her poetic oeuvre, she wrote a biography of Taras Shevchenko for young readers, Shliakh veletnia (A Giant’s Path, 1955), and translated from French and Italian into Ukrainian. She was awarded the Antonovych Prize in 1986. At the end of her life, Livytska-Kholodna moved to Toronto, Canada.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rubchak, B. ‘Sertse nadvoie rozderte,’ in Livytska-Kholodna, N. Poezii stari i novi (New York 1986)
Fizer, I. ‘Stari y novi poeziї Nataliї Livytskoї-Kholodnoї,’ Vidnova no 6–7 (Philadelphia 1987)
Sherekh, Iu. ‘Bez nazvy,’ in Sherekh, Iu. Tretia storozha (Baltimore and Toronto 1991)
Strumins'kyi, B., Skorups'ka, M. (comp.) ‘Materiialy do istoriï literatury i hromads'koï dumky: lystuvannia z amerykans'kykh arkhiviv 1857–1933’ vol 3 (New York 1992)
Kutsenko, L. Natalia Livytska-Kholodna: Narys zhyttia i tvorchosti (Kirovohrad 2004)
Lehka, O. Zhyttia – tse liubov: Erotychnyi roman u virshakh Natali Livyts'koї-Kholodnoї (Lviv 2007)
Shkandrij, M. Ukrainian Nationalism: Politics, Ideology, and Literature, 1929–1956 (New Haven and London 2015)

Roksana Kharchuk

[This article was updated in 2026.]