Svetlana Alexievich facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Svetlana Alexievich
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Alexievich in 2024
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Святлана Аляксандраўна Алексіевіч
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| Born | Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich 31 May 1948 Stanislav, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine) |
| Occupation | Journalist, oral historian |
| Language | Russian |
| Citizenship | Belarus |
| Alma mater | Belarusian State University |
| Notable awards | Nobel Prize in Literature (2015) Order of the Badge of Honour (1984) Order of the Arts and Letters (2014) Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (2013) Prix Médicis (2013) Belarusian Democratic Republic 100th Jubilee Medal (2018) |
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Svetlana Alexievich (born May 31, 1948) is a famous writer and journalist from Belarus. She writes her books in Russian. She won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for her special way of writing. Her books tell stories from many different people, showing their suffering and bravery during tough times. She is the first writer from Belarus to ever win this important award.
Contents
Svetlana Alexievich's Early Life and Career
Svetlana Alexievich was born in a town called Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk) in Ukraine. Her father was Belarusian, and her mother was Ukrainian. She grew up in Belarus.
After finishing high school, she worked as a reporter for local newspapers. In 1972, she graduated from Belarusian State University. Later, in 1976, she became a writer for a literary magazine called Nyoman in Minsk.
Alexievich learned a lot from other writers like Hanna Krall and Ryszard Kapuściński. During her career, she became known for writing stories based on what people remembered and told her. This way of writing is called "oral history." She wrote powerful oral histories about big events in Soviet history. These included World War II, the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and the Chernobyl disaster.
Challenges and Moving Away
In 1989, Alexievich published a book called Zinky Boys. This book was about soldiers who died in the Soviet war in Afghanistan and were sent home in zinc coffins. Some people did not like the book. They said it was "defaming" (damaging the reputation of) the soldiers.
Alexievich faced legal troubles several times between 1992 and 1996. Because of political pressure from the government, she left Belarus in 2000. She lived in cities like Paris, Gothenburg, and Berlin for about ten years. In 2011, she moved back to Minsk.
How Svetlana Alexievich Writes Her Books
Alexievich's books explore the feelings and experiences of people who lived in the Soviet Union and after it broke apart. She creates her books by carefully putting together many interviews. It's like making a collage of people's memories.
A Belarusian writer named Ales Adamovich greatly influenced her. He believed that to truly show the horrors of the 20th century, it was better to record what real people said than to make up stories. Alexievich has said that Adamovich and another Belarusian writer, Vasil Bykaŭ, were very important to her writing style. She also thinks Varlam Shalamov is one of the best writers of the 20th century.
Famous Books in English
Some of her most well-known books translated into English are:
- Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from a Forgotten War: This book shares first-hand accounts from the war in Afghanistan.
- Chernobyl Prayer / Voices from Chernobyl: This book is an oral history of the Chernobyl disaster.
Svetlana Alexievich's Works
Her first book, War's Unwomanly Face, came out in 1985. It was very popular and sold more than two million copies. This book is a non-fiction oral history. It features monologues (long speeches by one person) from women who fought in World War II. They talk about parts of the war that had never been shared before.
Another book, The Last Witnesses: the Book of Unchildlike Stories, tells the personal memories of children during wartime. By looking at the war through the eyes of women and children, Alexievich showed a new side of human feelings during conflict.
In 1992, Alexievich published Boys in Zinc. This book tells the story of the Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989) through the emotional stories of people who were there. These include nurses, officers, pilots, mothers, and widows. Each person shares their experience of the war.
Alexievich was not officially with the army when she wrote Boys in Zinc. Instead, she traveled to Kabul by herself during the war. There, she collected many stories from veterans returning from Afghanistan. In the book, she calls herself "a historian of the untraceable." She tries to "reduce history to the human being," meaning she focuses on how big events affect individual people. She shares very honest accounts of the war.
Her books were not published by state-owned publishers in Belarus after 1993. However, private publishers in Belarus did release two of her books: Chernobyl Prayer in 1999 and Second-hand Time in 2013. Both were translated into Belarusian. Because of this, Alexievich has been more famous outside Belarus than in her home country.
Some people have called her the first journalist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, she herself does not think of herself as just a journalist. Her chosen style is sometimes called "documentary literature." This means it's an artistic way of telling real events, with some creative freedom.
In 2019, Alexievich was chosen to be the chairman of the Belarusian PEN Center.
Svetlana Alexievich's Political Involvement
During the 2020 Belarusian protests, Alexievich became a member of the Coordination Council. This group was formed by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a leader of the democratic movement in Belarus. The council worked to challenge the government of Alexander Lukashenko.
The government started legal action against the members of the Coordination Council. They said the council was trying to take over state power. Alexievich was questioned by authorities in August 2020.
In September 2020, Alexievich told the press that people in black masks were trying to get into her apartment. She said that all her friends and colleagues in the Coordination Council were either in prison or had been forced to leave the country. Diplomats from several European countries watched her home to help protect her from being taken away by security services.
Alexievich left Belarus for Germany in September 2020. She was the last member of the Coordination Council who was not in exile or arrested at that time. She said she would return when political conditions in Belarus improved.
In 2021, her book The Last Witnesses was removed from the school curriculum in Belarus. Her name was also taken out of the curriculum. Many believed this was because of her political activities.
After winning the Nobel Prize in 2015, Alexievich spoke out against Russia's actions in Crimea in 2014. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she said that allowing another country to use your land for an attack is like being involved in a crime. This was about Belarusian involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Awards and Honours
Svetlana Alexievich has received many awards for her writing and work, including:
- Saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk Medal
- 1984 — Order of the Badge of Honour (USSR)
- 1984 — Nikolay Ostrovskiy literary award
- 1984 — Oktyabr Magazine Prize
- 1985 — Konstantin Fedin literary award
- 1986 — Lenin Komsomol Prize — for her book «У войны не женское лицо»
- 1987 — Literaturnaya Gazeta Prize
- 1996 — Tucholsky-Preis (Swedish PEN)
- 1997 — Friendship of the Peoples Magazine Prize
- 1997 — Triumph Prize (Russia)
- 1997 — Andrei Sinyavsky Prize of Novaya Gazeta
- 1998 — Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding
- 1998 — Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung-Preis
- 1999 — Herder Prize
- 2005 — National Book Critics Circle Award, Voices from Chernobyl
- 2007 — Oxfam Novib/PEN Award
- 2011 — Ryszard Kapuściński Award (Poland)
- 2011 — Angelus Award (Poland)
- 2013 — Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
- 2013 — Prix Médicis essai, La Fin de l'homme rouge ou le temps du désenchantement (for her book Secondhand Time)
- 2014 — Officer of the Order of the Arts and Letters (France)
- 2015 — Nobel Prize in Literature
- 2017 — Arthur Ross Book Award Bronze Medal
- 2017 — Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.
- 2018 — Belarusian Democratic Republic 100th Jubilee Medal
- 2020 — Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament
- 2021 — Sonning Prize
- 2021 — Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Commander's Cross)
Alexievich is also part of the advisory committee for the Lettre Ulysses Award. In 2019, she gave the first Anna Politkovskaya Memorial Lecture at the British Library. This lecture is a special event to highlight the voices of women journalists and human rights defenders who work in war zones.
Images for kids
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Svetlana Alexievich's signature.
See also
In Spanish: Svetlana Aleksiévich para niños
