Books from belarus print by Hanna Kruk

www.booksfrombelarus.net

This brochure presents the best in contemporary Belarusian literature. It contains works from different publishers. In this context, the authors are represented by Daria Vashkevich.

Daria Vashkevich E-mails: bel.literature@gmail.com, dariavashkevich17@gmail.com Phone: +375297079228 Skype: daria_colada

BOOKS FROM BELARUS

VICTOR MARTINOVICH Biography: Victor Martinovich, born 1977 in Ashmiany, Belarus, is a political scientist with a PhD in art history, and professor of the European Humanities University in Vilnius. He is the author of four novels, two of them as yet unpublished. Paranoia, published in Russia at the end of 2009, was pulled from sale in Belarus two days after it hit the bookshelves. Victor Martinovich’s story Taboo was selected for the Best European Fiction 2011 anthology (Dalkey Archive). The first novel by Victor Martinovich written in the Belarusian language was longlisted for The Jerzy Giedroyc Prize, the equivalent of the Booker Prize for Belarus, and in 2012 received the Bahdanovich Literary Award.

Press quote: “This novel fits into the context of the modern Belarusian literature easily. [...] If imagined in the form of a skeleton, ”Sfagnum’s” composition is probably one of the most well-built and harmonious skeletons that I’ve recently encountered in Belarusian literature.” (Hanna Yankuta, budzma.org) Publisher: Piarshak / Knihazbor Title in Belarusian: Sfahnum Number of pages: 358 pp. Year: 2013 Category: Gangster comedy drama

Sfagnum

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in the Belarusian sticks.

This crime-caper comedy drama is more than a story of a gang’s failure – it’s a truly carnivalesque journey into the metaphysical landscape of the Belarusian provinces. The gang’s heist scheme goes awry: one member tries to steal the loot along the way. He dies in the shooting and the rest of the gang has to run away. The local police officer arrives at the crime scene and finds the loot, quite a sizeable amount of cash, or as he refers to it – “a fuckload of money”. The instructions he gets from his boss are clear: no money should be mentioned in his reports. Three incompetent amateur gangsters end up owing the loot to a high-powered mafia boss and they have only a few days to

come up with the cash, with a thug hot on their tail. The novel, heavy on local dialect and foul language, introduces us to the exotic setting of Belarusian rural life and presents the reader with a vast gallery of vivid characters. This fast-paced, laugh-out-loud gangster comedy is a perfect blend of humour, intelligence, and suspense from the young Belarusian writer who has already spoken out with a dark political satire on the regime in Paranoia, published in the States by Northwestern University Press in March 2013.

Translations, film rights etc: Option publishers: Northwestern University Press (USA), Like (Finland), Ersatz (Sweden). Film rights: Pending Prizes and Awards: Nominated for the Russian award “National Bestseller 2013”

Contacts: Daria Vashkevich E-mails: bel.literature@gmail.com, dariavashkevich17@gmail.com Phone: +375297079228 Skype: daria_colada

BOOKS FROM BELARUS

NATALKA BABINA Biography: Natalka Babina works as a journalist for the independent Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva. She was born at the village of Zakazanka close to the BelarusUkraine border and writes in both Belarusian and Ukrainian. She is the author of a collection of short stories “There Shouldn’t Be Any Blood” (2007) and of the novel “Down Among the Fishes” (2007, 2011). Her works have been translated into Polish, English, Czech, Ukrainian and Russian.

Down Among the Fishes A portrait of a lady – and a whole city down among the fishes

Right at the beginning, the narrator tells us how she drove the Devil away by walloping him with a torn sheet soaked with her menstrual blood. This is the rather shocking opening of an affectionate portrayal of life in a village in the marshy region of Polesia in southern Belarus. The rural old-fashioned way of life is contrasted with that in the city of Brest, in history and the present day. We get to meet Ala, a former alcoholic and drug addict who helps her 97-yearold grandmother Makrynia around the house. The daily routine of feeding the animals and weeding the vegetable patch is turned upside down when Ala finds her grandmother dead, sitting with a mug of coffee in front of her. Soon enough, Ala and her twin sister Ulia learn that this

wasn’t a natural death. But who would want to kill old Makrynia? Now Ala starts to have visions of the old city of Brest. that had been razed to the ground to make way for the giant fortress that guards the frontier. Sometimes she sees its streets where nowadays there is a lake, the whole city and its inhabitants being down among the fishes. Through her visions, Ala starts to understand the tragic story of her ancestors and eventually she finds the key to understanding what is going on in her own life. A truly original novel, breathing life into generations of Belarusian women and skillfully striking a balance between crime fiction, a love story, a historical novel and magical realism.

Press quote: “Ambiguous protagonists, who unsuccessfully strive for excellence, […] God and the devil, paleography and alcohol – anything that you associate with the best classical books. You have a complete set of components for a “perfect novel” here: characters-doubles, women’s emancipation, the elements of the alternative history and even the theme of emigration so popular in the West nowadays. The book is catching and can be read in one gulp…” (Kasia Kliosh, n-europe.eu) Publisher: Lohvinaŭ Title in Belarusian: Rybin Horad Number of pages: 320 pp. Year: 2007 Category: Novel Translations, film rights etc: Published in English by Glagoslav Publications. Translated into Polish and Ukrainian. Prizes and Awards: In 2011 the Polish translation of the novel was short-listed for the Angelus Central European Literature Award.

Contacts: Daria Vashkevich E-mails: bel.literature@gmail.com, dariavashkevich17@gmail.com Phone: +375297079228 Skype: daria_colada

BOOKS FROM BELARUS

BARYS PIATROVICH Biography: Barys Piatrovich was born in the village Vialiki Bor, in the area of Belarus worst affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. He has worked as a journalist, and since 2002 has been a chief editor of the independent Belarusian literature magazine Dzejaslou. In 2011 Barys Piatrovich was elected the chairman of the independent Union of Belarusian Writers. He is the author of seven books of prose. His works have been translated into English, French, German, Russian, Polish, Swedish, Czech, Bulgarian, Slovak, Lithuanian and Ukrainian. The book of short stories To Live Is Not Frightful received the Hliniany Viales literary award for the best book of prose in Belarusian in 2008.

Press quote: “The novel is full of today’s realities. They have not changed in two decades. […] Treachery and double agents in the national movement. And love, of course.” (Siarhej Makarevich, nn.by) Publisher: Medisont / Dziejasloŭ Title in Belarusian: Spačatku byla ciemra Number of pages: 300 pp Year: 2012 Category: Novel/Crime

In the Beginning was the Darkness When the most dangerous thing you can do is remember your past Belarus in the 1990s. A young man wakes up after being in a coma for a long time. He has lost his memory and doesn’t even know his own name. Everyone calls him “Slavik” – the name he whispered when he was found half-dead in the woods. The mental institution where he is hospitalized is miserable and life is brutal. Inmates and staff are involved in a sinister economy where the lack of food, resources and empathy makes sex the only valid currency. And “Slavik” is being watched by the hospital manager on behalf of the KGB. When “Slavik” slowly starts to recover his memories, he does not share them with anyone; no one is to be trusted. It turns out his name is Uladzia, and he was a young idealist engaged in the struggle for an independent Belarus. He was betrayed by

his friend Slavik who was ordered by the KGB to kill him. Uladzia also finds out that he has magical gifts – he can foresee the future and cure diseases. Soon there are crowds of people who want his help. When the KGB finds this out, they decide to kill him. His appointed killer Slavik heads for the hospital, and at the same time his ex-girlfriend Liuda is looking for him. In the final scene Uladzia is sitting in the sunny hospital yard, reading the first lines from the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep...” Uladzia is thinking of the darkness which was his beginning and might well be his end.

Contacts: Daria Vashkevich E-mails: bel.literature@gmail.com, dariavashkevich17@gmail.com Phone: +375297079228 Skype: daria_colada

BOOKS FROM BELARUS

JEVA VIEZHNAVIEC Biography: Jeva Viezhnaviec was born in 1972 in the town of Slutsk, near Minsk, Belarus. Her creative personality was shaped in the colourful bohemian melting pot of Minsk and Warsaw in the 1990s. She currently lives and works in Warsaw.

Press quote: “Without doubt one of the most unique voices of modern Belarusian prose. She writes like a devil. She writes like a magician. Her pen speaks for those who are unable or unwilling to use the pen themselves. Jeva Viezhnaviec delivers a hard slap in the face of a cruel Belarusian reality.” (Naša Niva weekly). Publisher: Lohvinaŭ Title in Belarusian: Šliach drobnaj svolačy Number of pages: 200 pp. Year: 2008 Category: Short stories

The Way of a Petty Scoundrel. Short stories. “She writes like a devil”

Jeva Viezhnaviec describes with striking force the life of the modern Belarusian woman, despairing, lonely, anguished and with no place to call her own. The intellectual environment in her stories is populated by conformists and non-conformists, women and men.

The title story of the book is an ironic piece where two sisters, both journalists – one working in an independent newspaper, the other employed by a state-propagandistic one – meet in their parents’ house to dig up potatoes – a traditional Belarusian activity.

Contacts: Daria Vashkevich E-mails: bel.literature@gmail.com, dariavashkevich17@gmail.com Phone: +375297079228 Skype: daria_colada

BOOKS FROM BELARUS

ARTUR KLINAU

Press quote: “It would be possible to guide tourists through Minsk following the literary route made by Klinau, just like the route Joyce made for Dublin.” (Naša Niva weekly). Publisher: Lohvinaŭ

Biography: Artur Klinau was born in 1965 in Minsk. He is a novelist, artist and editorin-chief of the magazine pARTisan. His novel “Minsk. The Sun City of Dreams” has been translated into German (Surhkamp), Russian (Ad-Marginem PH), Swedish (Ersatz), Hungarian (Kairosz), Polish (Czarne) and French. His military novel “The Helmet” has been translated into Russian (Ad-Marginem).

Title in Belarusian: Šklatara Number of pages: 300 pp. Year: 2013 Category: Novel

The Bottle Recycling Centre The destructive game of the postmodern underground To the people of the postmodern underground scene in the country of postmodern dictatorship, everything is just a game. Slogans and quotes have taken over reality. Everywhere you can pick up and play around with slogans for democracy, slogans for revolution, for love or hate. But the game is destructive. The Bottle Recycling Centre is a real location in the city of Minsk. On 37 A Independence Avenue, the ex-bottle-recycling point is now an independent art gallery, publishing house and bookshop. The characters in this novel are the real people who populate the place and play the game. But when the catastrophe occurs, the underground people don’t come back to reality, and the game turns into delusion.

The drama takes place against the background of the 2010 presidential elections. Our protagonist, a cynical man, notices with surprise that his banal flirtation turns into something more serious, to something which can take him to the borders of madness and beyond. Throughout the story the author manages to capture the atmosphere of fear in Belarusian society today. Part of the plot is an almost documentary description of the brutal violence following the democratic demonstration in Minsk after the presidential elections.

Contacts: Daria Vashkevich E-mails: bel.literature@gmail.com, dariavashkevich17@gmail.com Phone: +375297079228 Skype: daria_colada

BOOKS FROM BELARUS

ULADZIMIR NYAKLYAYEW Biography: Uladzimir Nyaklyayew, born in 1946, is a writer, poet, journalist and politician. He made his literary debut in the late 1960s and has since published numerous works. During the period 1999-2003 he went into exile in Poland and Finland for political reasons. On returning to Belarus he continued to work in political opposition to Aliaksandar Lukashenka. He was a registered candidate for the presidential elections in 2010, but on the day of the elections he was severely beaten and taken to hospital, only to be abducted from there by the Belarusian authorities. He was later put under house arrest and was identified by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. His voice is one of strongest in the Belarusian opposition, and his imprisonment was reported by the media worldwide. The release of “A Fizzy Water Machine With And Without Syrup” drew a lot of attention in Belarus – from readers and authorities alike.

Press quote: “This is a novel about a person, as well as a whole generation, growing up and forming their ideals. It is also a novel about the mysteries of youth, the key to which is found after 50 years. The novel genre is blurred. It contains elements of melodrama, Bildungsroman and detective.” (Siarhej Mikulevich, nn.by) Publisher: Paperus Title in Belarusian: Aŭtamat z haziroŭkaj z siropam i biez Number of pages: 314 pp. Year: 2012 Category: Novel Prizes and Awards: First place in The Jerzy Giedroyc Prize, the equivalent of the Booker Prize for Belarus.

A Fizzy Water Machine With And Without Syrup One of the strongest voices of the Belarusian opposition From the Khrushchev years in the 1960s to the presidential elections of 2010, Nyaklyayew tells the story of oppression and resistance in Belarusian society. On the basis of his own life, the author in this semi-documentary, semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of some free minded youth of Minsk in the 1960s being chased by the KGB hunting an “anti-Soviet group conspiracy”, Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to Minsk and Lee Harvey Oswald’s residency there in 1959-1962.

In 2010, Nyaklyayew registered as a candidate for the Belarusian presidential elections. For his activism he ended up in jail and in that way the events of the 1960s continued unexpectedly half a century later.

Contacts: Daria Vashkevich E-mails: bel.literature@gmail.com, dariavashkevich17@gmail.com Phone: +375297079228 Skype: daria_colada

BOOKS FROM BELARUS

ALHIERD BACHAREVIČ Biography: Alhierd Bacharevič currently lives in Hamburg, Germany. His other works include the novels “No Mercy for Valiancina H.” (2006), “Damned Visitors in the Capital” (2008), “The Magpie on the Gallows” (2009), and “The Cold Heart” (2009), a manual for cardiologists co-authored with W. Hauff. He has also written collections of short stories. Bacharevič’s books have been translated into German and Polish.

Press quote: “The hatred felt towards contemporary Belarusian reality is caused by the political situation in the country and Bacharevič’s lyricism arises from the same merciless, yet loving gaze.” (gedroyc.by). Publisher: Lohvinaŭ Title in Belarusian: Malaja medyčnaja encyklapiedyja Bachareviča Number of pages: 250 pp. Year: 2011 Category: Mock encyclopedia Translations, film rights etc: Several essays from the book were translated into German and Czech.

A Concise Medical Encyclopedia

Prizes and Awards: Second place in The Jerzy Giedroyc Prize.

Intended as a useless last resort for self-taught medical practitioners. “A Concise Medical Encyclopedia by Bacharevič” (ACMEB) is an anti-scientific work, penned by non-doctor Alhierd Bacharevič and intended as a useless last resort for self-taught medical practitioners. The author describes and offers treatments for a number of major medical, biological, clinical, and social maladies – from the vantage point of a man who urgently needs medical assistance but categorically refuses to accept it.

Alcoholism, weather dependence, smoking, kleptomania, inferiority complex and apnea; ‘everything is NOT under control’ states Bacharevič. ACMEB was first published on the web site of Radio Free Europe throughout the year 2010.

Contacts: Daria Vashkevich E-mails: bel.literature@gmail.com, dariavashkevich17@gmail.com Phone: +375297079228 Skype: daria_colada

BOOKS FROM BELARUS

ROMA SVECHNIKAU Biography: Roma Svechnikau was born in Minsk in 1992. He is a journalist, photographer, performing artist and, more than anything, a traveller. He co-founded the artist group “Lena Krasit”, which sets up performances in various public spaces in Minsk.

Press quote: “Having dropped out of school, left his friends and well-planned future, he started a three-year journey around the world— not by car, not on a yacht or even on a bicycle, but on foot and hitchhiking.” (Naviny.by) Publisher: Piarshak Title in Belarusian: Roma Jedzie Number of pages: 300 pp. Year: 2012 (and continuing) Category: Travel / documentary

Roma’s trip Around the world on $150

In summer 2012 the twenty-year-old Belarusian student Roma Svechnikau left university, packed a bag and with 150 dollars in his pocket headed out for a trip that would take him around the world. His aim was to travel for three years on all five continents and create a unique multimedia book. One year later the first part of the journey has taken him through Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Mongolia, China, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia. Each new country forms a new chapter in his book, which is being published on line (http://34mag.net/rubrics/roma_edze/) as the trip continues. Photos, video and audio elements blend with the text, utilizing the possibilities of electronic publishing

to the full. We follow him in his fight for survival, meeting with local police and hospitable fellow men, dealing with both curiosity and open hostility. In each new country, Roma sets himself a new task to accomplish or an experiment to conduct. He avoids trains, buses and hotels, making his way around by hitch-hiking and sleeping in a tent or by invitation at the homes of people he meets along the road. He has fled from the Vice Squad of the Iranian police, crossed the Gobi desert at –30˚ C, bumped half way through China on an ancient motorcycle and rowed the Mekong River in Laos on a skiff. In the summer of 2013 Roma travelled across the Pacific for the second part of the journey, the Americas.

Contacts: Daria Vashkevich E-mails: bel.literature@gmail.com, dariavashkevich17@gmail.com Phone: +375297079228 Skype: daria_colada

The project is being carried out with financial support from the Swedish Institute.