Paola Volodymyrivna Utevska — Ukrainian children’s writer

Early Life and education

Paola Utevska was born on September 14, 1911, in Odesa into a family of artists and scholars.

Her father, sculptor Volodymyr Izdebsky, organized the famous “Izdebsky Salons,” while her mother, Yevheniya Utevska, authored scientific works in chemistry. Due to religious circumstances, her parents could not officially marry. In 1913, her father left the family and emigrated first to Paris and later to the United States, so Paola was raised by her mother.

Odesa was the place of Paola Utevskaya’s birth and early formation. She spent her childhood there, growing up in an intellectual environment that combined art and science. The influence of her chemist mother and sculptor father later reflected in her work — a combination of artistic thinking and scientific erudition.

Education and War

In 1925, Utevskaya graduated from a labor school and continued her studies in Kyiv.

1931 — preparatory courses at the Kyiv Chemical-Technological Institute.
1941 — Faculty of Philology at Kyiv University.

Despite a solid education, she did not become a chemist or professional philologist — her true calling was literature.

With the outbreak of the German-Soviet War, Paola Utevskaya went to the front. During her service, she headed a hospital library on the Stalingrad Front and published her first article in the army newspaper.

In May 1942, she was concussed and seriously wounded. After recovering, she returned to military service and remained in the army until the end of the war. She was awarded medals for her service.

Literary career

After the war, Utevskaya settled in Kyiv. From 1945 to 1949, she worked as a literary consultant at Literaturna Hazeta and later at the journal Vitchyzna.
She actively published in periodicals such as Vitchyzna, Dnipro, Raduga, Pioneriya, Barvinok, and Novy Mir.

Her first book, From Black Gold (1960), co-written with her mother, was dedicated to synthetic materials and combined scientific knowledge with an accessible presentation style.
Children’s literature

Later, Paola Utevskaya focused on children’s literature, creating books that combined scientific and artistic knowledge. Some of her most famous works include:

Flower Clock (1962)
Tales of the Glass Thread (1965)
Secrets of Your Room (1966)
Kostik’s Green Republic (1968)
Eternal Travelers (1972)
Immortal Signs (1976, 1981)
Truth That Resembles a Fairy Tale (1978)
Gifts of the Green Friend (1980)
Water the Traveler, Water the Worker (1985)
The Story of a Porcelain Cup (1986)

Her books introduced children to nature, science, and the history of objects and phenomena. They were distinguished by accessibility, depth, and a sincere love for the world and the reader.

Later years

Paola Utevskaya lived a long life and continued her literary work in the postwar decades. She passed away in 2001 in Kyiv, leaving behind a rich literary legacy that continues to inspire new generations to explore the world and develop a love of science.

Amateur and humorous film parody "Paola and the Novel" (1960).
The simple script was written by Leonid Volynsky and Viktor Nekrasov, who directed the film and played the main male role of the thief Toto. And the role of the heroine of the film was given to the Kyiv writer Paola Utevskaya. The film was shot in 1960 and edited in the same year, already in Kyiv, by Leonid Volynsky. The shooting took place in Yalta, during a vacation in the House of Writers' Creativity. Viktor Nekrasov took a practically complete copy of the film with him to emigration, to Paris, where it was preserved by the writer's heirs.