Vasyl Koroliv-Staryi (1879–1943) was a Ukrainian writer, publisher, translator, and political figure. He was born on February 17, 1879, in Dykanka, Poltava County, Poltava Gubernia, and graduated from the Kharkiv Veterinary Institute in 1904. Koroliv-Staryi co-founded and directed the Chas publishing house in Kyiv and contributed to various newspapers, including Rada, Khliborob, and Zasiv. From 1917 to 1919, he served as editor of the monthly journal Knyhar. In 1919, Koroliv-Staryi was sent to Czechoslovakia as part of the Ukrainian People's Republic's diplomatic mission and remained there after World War I. He married writer Natalena Koroleva and taught at the Ukrainian Husbandry Institute in Poděbrady for many years. Koroliv-Staryi authored textbooks on zoology and animal physiology, children’s stories and plays, and notable works such as the novelette Chmelyk (The Bumblebee, 1923) and the memoir Zhadky pro moiu smert’ (Memories About My Death, 1942; repr. 1961). He also translated works by Czech writers into Ukrainian. Vasyl Koroliv-Staryi passed away on December 11, 1943, in Mělník, Czechoslovakia.