Discussion and reading: Belarusian literature in the context of political repression

jWith Taciana Niadbaj and Iryna Kozikava, both PEN Belarus Dmitrij Strotsev, Hochroth Minsk and Andreas Weihe
Taciana Niadbaj, President of PEN Belarus, and Iryna Kozikava, Executive Director of PEN Belarus and sister of the imprisoned lawyer and writer Maksim Znak, will dicuss the catastrophic situation of political prisoners in Belarus, the current challenges in the Belarusian cultural landscape, and literature created in prison. Iryna and Taciana will read excerpts from »Zekameron« by Maksim Znak and from the memoirs of Ales Bialiatski, Nobel laureate and human rights advocate. They will be joined by Dmitrij Strotsev, poet and member of PEN Belarus, who will recite poems. Dmitrij personally experienced the repressions in 2020, had to leave the country, and founded the publishing project »Hochroth Minsk« in Berlin. Andreas Weihe studied Biology in Kharkiv and Moskow. First literary translations in the 1980s. Since then he has translated, amongst others, Marina Zvetaiena, Vassili Grossman, Mark Aldanow, Dmitri Strosev. PEN Belarus is a human rights organization that plays a pioneering role in monitoring human rights violations in the cultural sector in Belarus. Currently, 37 writers and cultural workers are imprisoned. Despite the extreme restrictions, these imprisoned writers remain active and have published hundreds of poems, stories, and novels.