Ukrainian poet and novelist, one of the greatest romantics in Ukrainian literature of the first half of XX century, military journalist and editor of Ukrainian literature magazine.

During 1925–1926 Yuri Yanovsky was working as an art editor at Odesa film studio. Since 1927 he lived in Kharkiv and worked as an editor of All-Ukrainian Photo-Cinema Directory (VUFKU). In 1939 he returned to Kyiv. Romantic short stories of the early period of writer were collected in two books “Mammoth tusks” (1925) and “The blood of the earth” (1927). His first novel “Master of the ship” proved his excellent skills in the descriptions of marine romantic. The novel “Turn” appeared in 1927. The chief novel of writer The Four Sabers (1931) portrayed the spontaneous people's movement of Ukraine in days of the liberation struggle. This writing triggered off biting criticism and subsequently was illegal for a long time. Later Yanovsky returned to the subject of revolution in Ukraine in the novel collection “Riders” (1935), however that time he sided with official point of view. One of the novels “A double circle” was devoted to representation of tragic fratricidal conflicts in time of revolution.

During World War II Yuri Yanovsky was working as an editor of Ukrainian literature magazine and military journalist. In 1945 he worked as reporter at the Nuremberg trials.