Ivan Franko was a Ukrainian poet, novelist, writer of short stories, playwright, satirist and publicist who lived and worked during the latter half of the 19th and the early years of the present century. His prolific and versatile pen left a great imprint on the people of his day as well as on the generations that followed. That is why today his name is honored and revered wherever Ukrainian people live. As his writings were translated into more and more languages his world stature grew. Today he is recognized as one of the great writers of the past century. Only a few of Ivan Franko’s poems had been translated into English. The present volume of translations is a representative selection of the great writer’s works in the English language. Since Franko’s complete writings fill fifty volumes, gathered here are only a very modest sampling: some of his best known poems, a few of his many short stories and excerpts from novels. A brief biography is also included in the introduction. This book of Ivan Franko’s writings in English translation has been published on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of his birth.