Learn All About Svetlana Alexievich

Most people had never heard of Svetlana Alexievich until 2015, when she won the Nobel Prize in Literature. It was the first time in history that a journalist won this prize for investigative, non-fictional work.

Until then, only poets and fiction authors had won the prize. However, the work of Svetlana Alexievich is inspired by real people and events. She captured the reality of the Soviet world and her own country, Belarus, like no other.

Her most famous book, Voices from Chernobyl , has been translated into twenty languages. In Dutch the book is called  We Love Chernobyl . However, no one in Alexievich’s country can read the book because the government has banned it. That fact alone gives you an idea of ​​how important this great contemporary writer is.

Echoes of childhood

Svetlana Alexievich was accidentally born in a Ukrainian city called Stanislav. We say accidentally because her father, a member of the Belarusian army, was temporarily assigned there. Alexievich spent her childhood and much of her adult life in Stanislav.

Stanislav himself tells a story of instability. It was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Western Ukraine, Poland, the Soviet Union, Germany and finally Belarus. Stanislav doesn’t even exist anymore. Now it is a city called Ivano-Frankivsk.

Alexievich was born on May 31, 1948. Her mother was a rural teacher, as was her father (besides being in the military). Political instability marked her childhood and youth. Later she studied journalism at the Belarusian State University.

Svetlana Alexievich: a daring reporter

A notable Soviet writer by the name of Ales Adamovich is one of Alexievich’s greatest inspirations. He was one of the writers who developed a new genre that he called “novel proof,” “collective novel,” “epic chorus,” or “novel-oratorio.” The genre is a cross between journalism and literature.

After working for some newspapers, Alexievich started working on more in-depth projects. She became a tireless traveler who crossed borders for testimonies of survivors of great historical events. It was then that she began to write excellent reports.

In 1985 she published her first book, The Unwomanly Face of War , translated as War Has No Woman’s Face . The book contained numerous interviews with women who experienced the Second World War.

The newspaper she worked for when the book came out fired her, accusing her of disgracing the national honor of the Soviets.

A brave woman

In 1989, Svetlana Alexievich published Zinky Boys (aka Zinc Boys ) after conducting 500 interviews. The people she interviewed had taken part in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In her book she denounces many cases of human rights violations. As a result of her actions, the authorities forced her to appear in court.

Her outspoken criticism of the Soviet Union led her to seek political refuge in 1991. Since then she has lived in several European countries.

In 1997 Alexievich published Voices from Chernobyl , which is her masterpiece. In this book she shares the testimonies of the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

It took her about 10 years to collect all the material for the book. Her work exposed the serious mistakes the authorities made during the disaster.

Disappointment and Glory

Svetlana Alexievich’s work explores human drama and its consequences. Her work is moving because she is able to convey the deep paradoxes of great historical moments, especially those related to the Soviet Union.

These events have directly affected Alexievich – she herself is a victim of war and turmoil. When she was a girl, her parents fled the war.

As an adult, the Chernobyl disaster blinded her mother and killed her sister. She also suffers the grief of exile and the inability to return to her homeland.

Alexievich has received many awards for her work over the course of her career. As mentioned, she is the first (and so far only) non-fiction writer to receive the Nobel Prize. Today she continues to write and tries to understand human evil and goodness.