Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko was born in 1778 in the village of Osnova [uk], Sloboda Ukraine Governorate (now within the city of Kharkiv), to a family of Ukrainian nobility.

[2] He adopted the pen name "Osnovianenko," a reference to the village of his birth, when he embarked on his literary career.

[7] His Ukrainian-language works were mostly burlesque and satirical in nature, but he also wrote more serious prose, such as his sentimental novella Marusia.

[1] According to his own statement about the novella, he wrote it "to prove to one unbeliever that something gentle and touching can be written in the Ukrainian language.

Films based on his works: Kvitka-Osnovianenko's literary achievement has tended to be a polarizing subject for critics of Ukrainian culture.