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Ivan Franko, in full Ivan Yakovych Franko, (born Aug. 27, 1856, Nahuyevychi, Galicia, Austrian Empire [now Ivana-Franka, Ukraine]—died May 28, 1916, Lemberg, Galicia [now Lviv, Ukraine]), Ukrainian author, scholar, journalist, and political activist who gained preeminence among Ukrainian writers at the end of the 19th century. He wrote dramas, lyric poetry, short stories, essays, and children’s verse, but his naturalistic novels chronicling contemporary Galician society and his long narrative poems mark the height of his literary achievement.
At an early age, Franko began composing poetry and plays. In 1875 he entered the university in Lemberg (later Lviv State Ivan Franko University), where he became a socialist and contributed to political and literary journals and to populist newspapers. Active political involvement and occasional imprisonment interrupted his studies, which were completed at the University of Vienna in 1891. In his later years he grew critical of Marxist socialism and supported Ukrainian nationalism.
