Helen Potrebenko
Helen Potrebenko | |
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Born | Woking, Alberta, Canada | June 21, 1940
Died | August 10, 2022 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | (aged 82)
Alma mater | University of British Columbia |
Occupation(s) | Author and activist |
Notable work |
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Helen Potrebenko (June 21, 1940 – August 10, 2022) was a Canadian author and activist based in Vancouver. Her books were noted to be sharp-witted works that explored themes of feminism and spoke about the class divides and inherent misogyny in society.[1] She was described as an uncompromising feminist writer who brought together ideas of Marxism and feminism in her works. Her most notable works included Taxi! (1975), No Streets of Gold (1977), A Flight of Average Persons (1979), and Sometimes They Sang (1986).
Early life
Potrebenko was born on June 21, 1940, in Woking, Alberta, in the province's Peace River Country to Olena (née Hapaniuk) and Makar Potrebenko. She was the fourth among five siblings in a family of Ukrainian immigrants who had come to Canada in 1928.[1][2] The family was not well-to-do and she was raised in poverty. She worked as a laboratory technician in Wainwright, Alberta, and later in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, before moving to Vancouver to pursue a university degree in sociology from the University of British Columbia.[2][3]
Career
When Potrebenko moved to Vancouver, she first worked as a delivery truck driver, and later as a taxi driver, while studying.
Potrebenko followed Taxi! with No Streets of Gold in 1977, documenting the history of Ukrainians in her home province of Alberta.[4] In this book and in "A Different Story", a short story included in Hey Waitress and Other Stories (1989), she writes about Ukrainian Canadians, primarily peasant farmers, and the pioneering role that they played leaving Europe and landing in rural Canada seeking to secure homesteads in the late 19th century and early 20th century. She writes of the hard work, poverty, illness, and isolation they had to endure before sustenance in their new country.[8] In the 1970s and 1980s, Potrebenko wrote for Pedestal, considered among the first of Canada's women's liberation newspapers.[9][6]
Potrebenko's other books included A Flight of Average Persons (1979), Two Years on the Muckamuck Line (1981), and Hey Waitress and Other Stories (1989).[10] Her 1986 book, Sometimes They Sang, was a commentary on social displacement, while her 1999 book Letters to Maggie was a collection of letters that she wrote to her friend and fellow social activist Margaret Benston after Benston's death in 1991, the letters touching on themes of aging, homelessness, and culture.[1][11] Potrebenko also wrote poetry, with her works including Walking Slow (1985), a collection of poems describing her support for striking restaurant workers, and Life, Love and Unions (1987).[4]
Potrebenko's books are noted for being sharp-witted works that explored the themes of feminism and spoke about the class divides and inherent misogyny in society at large. Foregrounding in her works the struggles of working-class women in the city in the 1970s and 1980s, she was characterised as one of the city's "most uncompromising feminist writers".[12] She has also been described as being committed to the conjunction of "Marxism and feminism", with her works dealing with the relegation of women to "economic and sexual inferiority" in a male-led capitalistic society.[13] Potrebenko's poetry has been described as being written in simple language but that speaks against social injustice perpetrated against working-class women by a male-dominated society.[13]
Potrebenko participated in organized protests and strikes, including one at the Vancouver-based Muckamuck restaurant on
The
Gallery
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Vancouver Public Library's plaque in honor of Potrebenko as a part of its Literary Landmark series
Personal life
Potrebenko was married to Earl Scott, with whom she lived in Burnaby in the larger Metro Vancouver region.[2]
She died from cancer on August 10, 2022, at the age of 82, in Vancouver.[1]
Select published works
- Taxi!: A Novel. Vancouver, B.C.: New Star Books. 1975. OCLC 2213736.
- No Streets of Gold: A Social History of Ukrainians in Alberta. Vancouver: New Star Books. 1977. OCLC 4110639.
- A Flight of Average Persons: Stories and Other Writings. Vancouver: New Star Books. 1979. OCLC 6172555.
- Walking Slow. Vancouver: Lazara Press. 1985. OCLC 16059834.
- Sometimes They Sang. Publication Studio Vancouver. 1986. OCLC 1225074287.
- Hey Waitress and Other Stories. Vancouver: Lazara Press. 1989. OCLC 20358781.
- Letters to Maggie. Vancouver: Lazara Press. 1998. OCLC 40300704.
- Winter Words. Burnaby, British Columbia: H. Potrebenko. 2007. OCLC 343724165.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Potrebenko, Helen". ABC BookWorld. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Hawthorn, Tom (September 5, 2022). "Sharp-witted writer Helen Potrebenko explored class divisions and everyday misogyny". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-88920-829-2. Archivedfrom the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "Helen Potrebenko". Vancouver Public Library. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ Frenette, Brad (April 28, 2010). "'Deserves not to be forgotten': Writers hail Helen Potrebenko's 'Taxi!'". National Post. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ a b c Schofield, Anakana (July 24, 2009). "Reader, hail that cab!". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ McMurtrie, John (October 12, 2016). "SF's Modern Times Bookstore to close". SFGATE. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ Mycak, Sonia (1996). "'A Different Story' by Helen Potrebenko: The prairie-pioneer myth re-visited". Canadian Ethnic Studies. 28 (1): 67. Archived from the original on September 7, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ "HELEN POTREBENKO". Lazara Press, a progressive publishing house in Vancouver, Canada. June 17, 2016. Archived from the original on August 12, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ "Indian Summer Festival". indiansummerfest.ca. Archived from the original on September 7, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ Studio, Publication. "Publication Studio". www.publicationstudio.biz. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ "Potrebenko, Helen – MemoryBC". www.memorybc.ca. Archived from the original on September 7, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-88920-829-2. Archivedfrom the original on September 7, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- JSTOR 24244245.