Ukrainian sci-fi writer Serhiy Dyachenko dies aged 77

Ukrainian science fiction writer and screenwriter Serhiy Dyachenko, who co-authored dozens of M-realism works with his wife, died at the age of 77 in the United States, his wife Marina Dyachenko reported on Facebook.

"Serhiy Dyachenko. April 14, 1945 — May 5, 2022," she wrote next to a photo of her husband.

According to the Chytomo portal, Dyachenko was born in Kyiv. He graduated from the Kyiv Medical Institute and worked as a psychiatrist. Later, he became Candidate of Biological Sciences. In 1989 he graduated from the Faculty of Scriptwriting.

He has been a member of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR since 1987, and the Union of Writers of the USSR since 1983. He was also awarded the National Prize of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko in 1987 together with director Anatoliy Borsyuk, cinematographer Oleksandr Frolov for the full-length popular science picture "The Star of Vavilov" of the Kyiv Studio of Popular Science Films.

Dyachenko also wrote numerous screenplays for films: "Nikolai Vavilov", "Famine-33", "Hetman's Jewels", "Academician Belyaev", "Star of Vavilov" among others. Until 2009 he lived and worked in Kyiv. In 2013, he and his wife Marina moved from Russia to the United States.

At the pan-European science fiction conference Eurocon 2005 in Glasgow, together with Marina Dyachenko, he was recognized as the best science fiction writer in Europe. He co-authored 25 novels, dozens of short stories and short stories, and several children's books with her.

He worked in the genres of M-realism and science fiction, fantasy and fairy tales. The most famous works include the trilogy The Witch's Century (1997-2020), the Cherry cycle, and the dilogy Vita Nostra (2007, 2021).