Panteleimon Kulish – 19th-century Ukrainian writer, author of the novel “The Black Council” and translator of the Bible into Ukrainian. One of the first professional Ukrainian authors, also a historian and cultural activist. He created the “Kulishivka” orthography, which shaped modern Ukrainian spelling.
📖 His novel “The Black Council” was the first historical novel in Ukrainian. ✍ First to translate the Bible fully into Ukrainian, though it wasn’t published in his lifetime. 🔠 Created the “Kulishivka” phonetic orthography, basis for today’s spelling. 💔 Relationship with Shevchenko was both friendly and quarrelsome. 🌍 Translated Byron, Shakespeare, Goethe. 🏛 Arrested for involvement in the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. 😮 Odd fact: once dreamed of becoming a teacher, became a literary founder instead. 😂 Funny: his wife Hanna Barvinok joked that “Panko doesn’t live in a house, but inside his own dictionary.”