Gorbal Mykola

Born on 10 September 1940 in Volovets village of Gorlicki district (powiat), Kraków region (Poland), a territory then occupied by Nazi Germany.

Mykola is a Ukrainian poet, politician and public activist.

Born in a family of peasants, he is a Lemko by descent. In 1945, the family was deported from Carpatho-Rus to the Ukrainian SSR: at first, in Kharkiv region, then the family moved to Letiache village of Zalishchytskyi district in Ternopil region.

In 1963, he graduated from Chortkiv Pedagogical College.

In 1968–1969, he studied at the Department of Music and Pedagogy of Kamianetsk-Podilskyi Pedagogical Institute.

In 1969, he switched to distance studying at the Ivano-Frankivsk Pedagogical Institute.

In September 1963, Mykola started a job of a music teacher in Borshchiv of Ternopil region.

From 1970, he taught esthetics at the Borshchiv Technical School of Mechanization and directed the youth ensemble.

In 1992–1993, he chaired information program editorial at the Ukrtelefilm studio.

In September 1988, Mykola Gorbal was appointed a secretary of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group Executive Board.

In 1990–1994, he chaired the Kyiv office of Ukrainian Republican Party (URP) and was a people’s deputy at the Kyiv City Council.

March 4, 1994, Mykola was elected a member of Ukrainian parliament. He worked in the Committee for Culture and Spirituality and chaired the URP Deputy Group; he was a part of such fractions: "Statehood", "Constitutional Centre" and "People’s Movement of Ukraine".

He is a founding member of the Republican Christian Party (RCP), on the constituent assembly of which he was elected the first deputy head (May 1, 1997). Since May 30, 1998, he has been a member of the Central Lead of the RCP.

Mykola Gorbal has been a member of PEN International since 1986.

In 1999, he established a charity organization Bohdan’s Gallery Foundation (in honor of his late brother Bohdan Gorbal) with the purpose to support non-traditional art and help non-professional artists with disabilities.