- Title: GERMANY: Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich wins German book trade peace prize
- Date: 11th October 2013
- Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (OCTOBER 11, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIORS OF FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR HALLS WINNER OF GERMAN BOOK TRADE PEACE PRICE SVETLANA ALEXIEVICH WALKING THROUGH CORRIDOR PHOTOGRAPHERS ALEXIEVICH BEING PHOTOGRAPHED ALEXIEVICH TAKING SEAT PHOTOGRAPHERS ALEXIEVICH BEING PHOTOGRAPHED JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) WINNER OF GERMAN BOOK TRADE PEACE PRICE SVETLANA ALEXIEVI
- Embargoed: 26th October 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA4PKVBRIYATKLEWCEJLSST8565
- Story Text: Ukrainian-born Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, chosen for this year's award German Book Trade Peace Award, said on Friday (October 11) that her chosen path remains difficult in her home country.
In her writing Alexievich portrays the lives of her fellow countrymen from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine and brings their suffering and their passions out with humility and generous expression, the jury said.
With her reports about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the unfulfilled hopes for a democratic country after the break-up of the Soviet empire, Alexievich channels the existential fears and disappointments of her generation into her prose.
On Friday, two days before being awarded the prize, the author gave some insight into her daily work in Belarus.
"You know, the authorities have so far created the impression like I am not there, like I didn't come back. They don't publish me, they don't show me anywhere, I cannot be on television, I can't be on the radio, if I am invited to a school, then next day there is a phone call, that the ceiling is falling there, or there is a water leak. It is a form of denial. If a publisher thinks about publishing my works, they start to have economic problems... So in this sense, it is of course very difficult to live, because it is impossible to meet with your readers," said the author, who has lived and worked in Minsk since 2011 after spending years abroad.
In her new book, "Second-hand Time", the 65-year-old author follows the hero of her previous works, investigating modern-day reality in Russia, which since the Soviet Revolution of 1917 has reversed direction from socialism to capitalism.
"One of the problems in Belarus and Russia is that intellectuals have gone silent, intellectuals have been set aside. Their place was taken by the better prepared, the more powerful, former Communists, former party members. That is, they immediately started to divide and tear apart Russia and they destroyed the success. Right now it is not clear if there is a dictatorship or monarchy in Russia. So there is no feeling of freedom. If people like Belarus or Russia, then they like the people. It is what I say, that I love our people, but I don't love our history," Alexievich said.
Books by Svetlana Alexievich are published in 35 languages and serve as a template for plays, radio plays and documentaries. She has received numerous awards, most recently in 2011 the Polish Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for her book "Unwomanly Face of the War". - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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