Iryna Mykhailivna Senyk was born on June 8, 1926, in Lviv. Her parents were Mykhailo Senyk and Maria Senyk. From 1939, she was a member of the Youth of the
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and in 1941, she became a full member of the organization, working in the regional propaganda department. She studied at a folk school and a private girls' gymnasium before entering
University of Lviv in 1944. In December 1945, while a student at the University of Lviv, she was arrested on charges of "treason against the homeland" (Article 54-1 "a") and "involvement in a counter-revolutionary organization" (Article 54–11) of the Criminal Code, and imprisoned on Lontsky Street. She was sentenced in 1946 to ten years in concentration camps in Siberia (
Ozerlag,
Angarlag, and
Irkutsk Oblast) and life in exile on charges of links with the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Despite all the camp bans, she continued writing poetry, which she had been doing since the age of nine, secretly writing on scraps of paper. While in camp, she learned how to embroider pieces on religious themes. she became an invalid, her arm broken during an accident at a rock quarry. Since 1979, she was a member of the
Ukrainian Helsinki Group. She was also an honorary member of
PEN International. Senyk was a signatory of the 1987 Ukrainian Association of Independent Creative Intelligentsia (UANTI) declaration. ==Awards==