Vasyl Stus (1938–1985) was one of Ukraine’s most significant twentieth-century poets, a prose writer, essayist, and prolific translator from several languages. As a Ukrainian dissident in the Soviet Union, he spent the last thirteen years of his life in prison and the Gulag, where he wrote his magnum opus collection Palimpsests (1980). His other poetry collections include Winter Trees (1970), Joyful Cemetery (1970), and Time of Creativity / Dichtenszeit (1972).