Belarus’ Svetlana Alexievich wins Nobel Prize in literature

Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for works that the prize judges called “a monument to suffering and courage.”

67-year-old Alexievich, used the skills of a journalist to create literature chronicling the great tragedies of the Soviet Union and its collapse: World War II, the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the suicides that ensued from the death of Communism.

Her first novel, “The Unwomanly Face of the War,” published in 1985 and based on the previously untold stories of women who had fought against the Nazi Germans, sold more than 2 million copies.

Her books have been published in 19 countries. She also has written three plays and the screenplays for 21 documentary films. The Swedish Academy cited Alexievich “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.”

The academy’s permanent secretary, Sara Danius, told that Swedish broadcaster SVT that she reached the writer just before the announcement. “She said one word: ‘Fantastic!'” Danius said.

The daughter of two village schoolteachers, Alexievich studied journalism in Belarus, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union. After persecution by Lukashenko regime, she left Belarus in 2000. The International Cities of Refuge Network offered her sanctuary and during the following decade she lived in Paris, Gothenburg and Berlin. In 2011 Alexievich moved back to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and like many intellectuals supports the political opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is up for re-election on Sunday.

Belarusbelarusianjournalistliteraturelukashenko regimeNobel PrizeopponentSvetlana Alexievichwriter
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