is a Belarusian journalist and author who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature ‘for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.’ Her books, which address Soviet and post-Soviet issues through multiple interviews with individuals, include: Цинковые мальчики (‘Boys in Zinc’) (Moscow. Molodaya Gvardiya. 1991); У войны не женское лицо (‘The Unwomanly Face of War’) (Minsk. Mastatskaya litaratura. 1985); Чернобыльская молитва (‘Chernobyl Prayer’) (Moscow. Ostozhye. 1997); and Время секонд хэнд (‘Secondhand Time’) (Moscow. Vremia. 2013).
‘It’s astonishing how quietly fifteen million communists walked away from power, with no bloodshed. Though, as it turns out, not altogether.’ Svetlana Alexievich talks to the Belarusian journal ‘Dziejaslou’ about the legacies of the Soviet past, literary freedom and the role of culture in the country’s democratic struggle.
Belarusian journalist and author Svetlana Alexievich was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for her work documenting the lives of Soviet and post-Soviet citizens. Her latest project, about love, is the subject of a documentary film by Swedish filmmaker Staffan Julén. Here, Alexievich discusses with Julén why she chose the subject, and what drives her work.
