Malenkyi dzvonar iz Konotopu. Istorychni opovidannia (The Little Bell-ringer from Konotip. Historic Tales for Children)

Toronto / New York: Obednannia Pratsivnykiv Dytiachoi Literatury , 1969. First Edition. Very good. First edition; 10 x 7; pp. 3-38, [2]; pictorial wraps in blue, brown, and black, designed by Mykhailo Mykhalevych; illustrated with monochrome, full-page and in-line drawings by Mykhalevych and Mykhailo Dmytrenko; small creases to corners and light wear to tips of spine; front hinge very-lightly starting; overall in very good condition.Leonid Poltava (1921 - 1990), pseudonym for Leonid Parhomovych, was a Ukrainian poet, playwright, and a leading figure of the RKU (Reichskommissariat Ukraine) - the civilian occupation regime in German-occupied Ukraine. He also worked as a journalist for the radios "Liberty" and "Voice of America." Fleeing at the end of the Second World War, he went to Germany and spent time at several DP (displaced persons) camps. He would eventually move to Paris, then Madrid, and, finally, to the US in 1958. Poltava was known for often exclaiming: "I love working for children" and he would write numerous juvenile works, including the current one - about a little boy in Konotip in northern Ukraine.The illustrators of the book, Mykhailo Mykhalevych (1906 - 1984) and Mykhailo Dmytrenko (1908 - 1997), were Ukrainian graphic artists, illustrators, icon painters, and stage designers, both of whom had spent time in DP camps in Germany, before emigrating to Canada and the US.