Svetlana Alexievich Explained

Svetlana Alexievich
Native Name:	Святлана Аляксандраўна Алексіевіч
Birth Name:	Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich
Birth Date:	31 May 1948
Birth Place:	Stanislav, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine)
Occupation:	Journalist, oral historian
Language:	Russian
Alma Mater:	Belarusian State University
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)
Signature:	Svetlana Alexijevich Autograph.jpg

Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich^[1] (born 31 May 1948) is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and oral historian who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time".^{[2] [3] [4] [5]} She is the first writer from Belarus to receive the award.^{[6] [7]}

Background

Born in the west Ukrainian town of Stanislav (Ivano-Frankivsk since 1962) to a Belarusian father and a Ukrainian mother,^[8] Svetlana Alexievich grew up in Belarus. After graduating from high school she worked as a reporter in several local newspapers. In 1972 she graduated from Belarusian State University and became a correspondent for the literary magazine Nyoman in Minsk (1976).^[9]

In a 2015 interview, she mentioned early influences: "I explored the world through people like Hanna Krall and Ryszard Kapuściński."^[10] During her career in journalism, Alexievich specialized in crafting narratives based on witness testimonies. In the process, she wrote artfully constructed oral histories of several dramatic events in Soviet history: the Second World War,^[11] Afghan War,^[12] dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the Chernobyl disaster.^[13]

In 1989 Alexievich's book Zinky Boys, about the fallen soldiers who had returned in zinc coffins from the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979 – 1985, was the subject of controversy, and she was accused of "defamation" and "desecration of the soldiers' honor". Alexievich was tried a number of times between 1992 and 1996. After political persecution by the Lukashenko administration,^[14] she left Belarus in 2000.^[15] 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.^{[16] [17]}

Influences and legacy

Alexievich's books trace the emotional history of the Soviet and post-Soviet individual through carefully constructed collages of interviews.^[18] According to Russian writer and critic Dmitry Bykov, her books owe much to the ideas of Belarusian writer Ales Adamovich, who felt that the best way to describe the horrors of the 20th century was not by creating fiction but through recording the testimonies of witnesses.^[19] Belarusian poet Uladzimir Nyaklyayew called Adamovich "her literary godfather". He also named the documentary novel I'm From Fire Village (Belarusian: Я з вогненнай вёскі) by Ales Adamovich, Janka Bryl and Uladzimir Kalesnik, about the villages burned by the German troops during the occupation of Belarus, as the main single book that has influenced Alexievich's attitude to literature.^[20] Alexievich has confirmed the influence of Adamovich and Belarusian writer Vasil Bykaŭ, among others.^[21] She regards Varlam Shalamov as the best writer of the 20th century.^[22]

Her most notable works in English translation include a collection of first-hand accounts from the war in Afghanistan (Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from a Forgotten War) and an oral history of the Chernobyl disaster (Chernobyl Prayer / Voices from Chernobyl).^[23] Alexievich describes the theme of her works this way:

Works

Her first book, War's Unwomanly Face, came out in 1985. It was repeatedly reprinted and sold more than two million copies.^[24] The book was finished in 1983 and published (in short edition) in Oktyabr, a Soviet monthly literary magazine, in February 1984.^[25] In 1985, the book was published by several publishers, and the number of printed copies reached 2,000,000 in the next five years.^[26] This non-fiction oral history book is made up of monologues of women in the war speaking about the aspects of World War II that had never been related before. Another book, , describes personal memories of children during wartime. The war seen through women's and children's eyes revealed a new world of feelings.^[27]

In 1992, Alexievich published "Boys in Zinc". The course of the Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989) is told through emotive personal testimony from unnamed participants of the war; from nurses to commissioned officers and pilots, mothers and widows. Each provides an excerpt of the Soviet-Afghan War which was disguised in the face of criticism first as political support, then intervention, and finally humanitarian aid to the Afghan people. Alexievich writes at the beginning of the book: Alexievich was not embedded with the Red Army due to her reputation in the Soviet Union; instead, she travelled to Kabul on her own prerogative during the war and gathered many accounts from veterans returning from Afghanistan. In "Boys in Zinc", Alexievich calls herself 'a historian of the untraceable' and 'strive[s] desperately (from book to book) to do one thing - reduce history to the human being.'^[28] She brings brutally honest accounts of the war to lay at the feet of the Soviet people but claims no heroism for herself: 'I went [to watch them assemble pieces of boys blown up by an anti-tank mine] and there was nothing heroic about it because I fainted there. Perhaps it was from the heat, perhaps from the shock. I want to be honest.'^[29] The monologues which make up the book are honest (if edited for clarity) reproductions of the oral histories Alexievich collected, including those who perhaps did not understand her purpose: 'What's your book for? Who's it for? None of us who came back from there will like it anyway. How can you possibly tell people how it was? The dead camels and dead men lying in a single pool of blood, with their blood mingled together. Who wants that?'^[30] Alexievich was brought to trial in Minsk between 1992 and 1996, accused of distorting and falsifying the testimony of Afghan veterans and their mothers who were 'offended [...] that their boys were portrayed exclusively as soulless killer-robots, pillagers, drug addicts and rapists...' ^[31] The trial, while apparently defending the honour of the army and veterans, is widely seen as an attempt to preserve old ideology in post-communist Belarus. The Belarus League for Human Rights claims that in the early 1990s, multiple cases were directed against democratically inclined intelligentsia with politically motivated verdicts.^[32]

In 1993, she published Enchanted by Death, a book about attempted and completed suicides due to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Many people felt inseparable from the Communist ideology and were unable to accept the new order surely and the newly interpreted history.^[33]

Her books were not published by Belarusian state-owned publishing houses after 1993, while private publishers in Belarus have only published two of her books: Chernobyl Prayer in 1999 and Second-hand Time in 2013, both translated into Belarusian.^[34] As a result, Alexievich has been better known in the rest of world than in Belarus.^[35]

She has been described as the first journalist to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.^[36] She herself rejects the notion that she is a journalist, and, in fact, Alexievich's chosen genre is sometimes called "documentary literature": an artistic rendering of real events, with a degree of poetic license.^[37] In her own words:

On 26 October 2019, Alexievich was elected chairman of the Belarusian PEN Center.^[38]

Political activism

During the 2020 Belarusian protests Alexievich became a member of the Coordination Council of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the Belarusian democratic movement and main opposition candidate against Lukashenko.^[39]

On 20 August, Alexander Konyuk, the Prosecutor-General of Belarus, initiated criminal proceedings against the members of the Coordination Council under Article 361 of the Belarusian Criminal Code, on the grounds of attempting to seize state power and harming national security.^{[40] [41]}

On 26 August, Alexievich was questioned by Belarusian authorities about her involvement in the council.^[42]

On 9 September 2020, Alexievich alerted the press that "men in black masks" were trying to enter her apartment in central Minsk. "I have no friends and companions left in the Coordinating Council. All are in prison or have been forcibly sent into exile," she wrote in a statement. "First they kidnapped the country; now it's the turn of the best among us. But hundreds more will replace those who have been torn from our ranks. It is not the Coordinating Council that has rebelled. It is the country."^[43] Diplomats from Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden began to keep a round-the-clock watch on Alexievich's home to prevent her abduction by security services.^{[44] [45]}

On 28 September 2020, Alexievich left Belarus for Germany, promising to return depending on political conditions in Belarus. Prior to her departure, she was the last member of the Coordination Council who was not in exile or under arrest.^[46]

In August 2021, her book The Last Witnesses was excluded from the school curriculum in Belarus and her name was removed from the curriculum.^{[47] [48]} It was assumed that the exclusion was made for her political activity.^[49]

In her first public statement, after she was announced the Nobel Prize in 2015, Alexievich condemned Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.^[50] Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she commented that "providing a territory for an aggressor country is nothing but complicity in a crime" in relation to Belarusian involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[51]

Awards and honours

Alexievich has received many awards, including:

• Saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk Medal (Медаль имени Святой Евфросиньи Полоцкой)^[52]
• 1984 — Order of the Badge of Honour (USSR)^[53]
• 1984 — Nikolay Ostrovskiy literary award of the Union of Soviet Writers
• 1984 — Oktyabr Magazine Prize
• 1985 — Литературная премия имени Константина Федина of the Union of Soviet Writers
• 1986 — Lenin Komsomol Prize — for the book «У войны не женское лицо»
• 1987 — Literaturnaya Gazeta Prize
• 1996 — Tucholsky-Preis (Swedish PEN) ^[54]
• 1997 — Prize
• 1997 — (Russia)
• 1997 — Andrei Sinyavsky Prize of Novaya Gazeta^{[55] [56]}
• 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^[57]
• 2011 — Ryszard Kapuściński Award (Poland)
• 2011 — Angelus Award (Poland)^[58]
• 2013 — Peace Prize of the German Book Trade^[59]
• 2013 — Prix Médicis essai, La Fin de l'homme rouge ou le temps du désenchantement (for her book Secondhand Time)^[60]
• 2014 — Officer of the Order of the Arts and Letters (France)^{[61] [62]}
• 2015 — Nobel Prize in Literature^[63]
• 2017 — Arthur Ross Book Award Bronze Medal given by the Council on Foreign Relations for her book Secondhand Time^[64]
• 2017 — Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.^[65]
• 2018 — Belarusian Democratic Republic 100th Jubilee Medal^{[66] [67]}
• 2020 — Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament (one of the named representatives of the democratic opposition in Belarus)^[68]
• 2021 — Sonning Prize^[69]
• 2021 — Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Commander's Cross)^[70]

Alexievich is a member of the advisory committee of the Lettre Ulysses Award. She gave the inaugural Anna Politkovskaya Memorial Lecture at the British Library on 9 October 2019.^[71] The lecture is an international platform to amplify the voices of women journalists and human rights defenders working in war and conflict zones.

Publications

• У войны не женское лицо (U voyny ne zhenskoe litso, War Does Not Have a Woman's Face), Minsk: Mastatskaya litaratura, 1985.
  • (English) The Unwomanly Face of War, (extracts), from Always a Woman: Stories by Soviet Women Writers, Raduga Publishers, 1987.
  • (English) War's Unwomanly Face, Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1988, .
  • (Belarusian) У вайны не жаночае аблічча. Minsk: Mast. lit., 1991. .
  • (Belarusian) У вайны не жаночы твар. Minsk: Mast. lit., 2019. Translated by Valiancin Akudovič. .
  • (Hungarian) A háború nem asszonyi dolog. Zrínyi Katonai Kiadó, 1988. .
  • (Finnish) Sodalla ei ole naisen kasvoja. Helsinki: Progress: SN-kirjat, 1988. Translated by Robert Kolomainen. . New edition: Keltainen kirjasto. Tammi, 2017. .
  • (English) The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II, Random House, 2017, .
  • (German) Der Krieg hat kein weibliches Gesicht. Henschel, Berlin 1987, .
  • (German) New, expanded edition; übersetzt von Ganna-Maria Braungardt. Hanser Berlin, München 2013, .
  • (Korean) 전쟁은 여자의 얼굴을 하지 않았다 문학동네, Seoul, South Korea 2015, .
  • (Portuguese) A Guerra não Tem Rosto de Mulher. Elsinore, 2016. .
  • (Georgian) ომს არ აქვს ქალის სახე. თბილისი: ინტელექტი, 2017. .^[72]
  • (Turkish) Kadın Yok Savaşın Yüzünde. Kafka Yayınevi, 2016. Translated by Günay Çetao Kızılırmak. .
  • (Hungarian) Nők a tűzvonalban. New, expanded edition. Helikon, 2016. .
  • (Catalan) La guerra no té cara de dona. Raig Verd, 2018. Translated by Miquel Cabal Guarro.
  • (Ukrainian) У війни не жіноче обличчя. Kharkiv: Vivat, 2016. Translated by Volodymyr Rafeyenko.
  • (Vietnamese) Chiến tranh không có một khuôn mặt phụ nữ, Nhà xuất bản Hà Nội, 2018. Translated by Nguyên Ngọc. ISBN 978-604-55-2917-1
• Последние свидетели: сто недетских колыбельных (Poslednie svideteli: sto nedetskikh kolybelnykh, The Last Witnesses: A Hundred of Unchildlike Lullabies), Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiya, 1985
  • (Russian) Последние свидетели: сто недетских колыбельных. Moscow, Palmira, 2004, .
  • (English) Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II. Random House, 2019, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.
  • (German) Die letzten Zeugen. Kinder im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Neues Leben, Berlin 1989; neu: Aufbau, Berlin 2005, . (Originaltitel: Poslednyje swedeteli). Neubearbeitung und Aktualisierung 2008. Aus dem Russischen von Ganna-Maria Braungardt. Berlin: Hanser-Berlin 2014,
  • (Portuguese) As Últimas Testemunhas: Cem histórias sem infância. Elsinore, 2017. .
  • (Hungarian) Utolsó tanúk: gyermekként a második világháborúban. Európa, 2017. .
  • (Turkish) Son tanıklar - Çocukluğa Aykırı Yüz Öykü. Kafka Yayınevi, 2019. Translated by Aslı Takanay. .
  • (Georgian) უკანასკნელი მოწმეები. თბილისი: არტანუჯი, 2018. .^[73]
  • (Catalan) Últims testimonis. Un solo de veus infantils. Raig Verd, 2016. Translated by Marta Rebón.
  • (Vietnamese) Những nhân chứng cuối cùng: Solo cho giọng trẻ em. Nhà xuất bản Phụ nữ. Translated by Phan Xuân Loan. 2018. ISBN
• Цинковые мальчики (Tsinkovye malchiki, Boys in Zinc), Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiya, 1991.
  • (English, US) Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War. W W Norton 1992, translated by Julia and Robin Whitby.
  • (English, UK) Boys in Zinc. Penguin Modern Classics 2016, translated by Andrew Bromfield.^[74]
  • (German) Zinkjungen. Afghanistan und die Folgen. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1992, .^[75]
  • (German) New, expanded edition; Hanser Berlin, München 2014, .
  • (Hungarian) Fiúk cinkkoporsóban. Európa, 1999. .
  • (Portuguese) Rapazes de Zinco: A geração soviética caída na guerra do Afeganistão. Elsinore, 2017. .
  • (Turkish) Çinko Çocuklar. Kafka Yayınevi, 2018. Translated by Serdar Arıkan & Fatma Arıkan. .
  • (Catalan) Els nois de zinc. Raig Verd, 2016. Translated by Marta Rebón.
  • (Vietnamese) Những cậu bé kẽm. Nhà xuất bản Phụ nữ. 2020. Translated by Phan Xuân Loan. ISBN 978-604-56-8452-8
• Зачарованные смертью (Zacharovannye Smertyu, Enchanted by Death) (Belarusian: 1993, Russian: 1994)
  • (German) Im Banne des Todes. Geschichten russischer Selbstmörder. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 1994,).
  • (German) Seht mal, wie ihr lebt. Russische Schicksale nach dem Umbruch. Berlin (Aufbau, Berlin 1999, .
  • (Japanese) '死に魅入られた人びと : ソ連崩壊と自殺者の記錄 / Svetlana Aleksievich & Taeko Matsumoto. Shi ni miirareta hitobito : Soren hōkai to jisatsusha no kiroku'. Tóquio: Gunzōsha, 2005.
  • (French) Ensorcelés par la mort." Paris: Plon, 1995.
• Чернобыльская молитва (Chernobylskaya molitva, Chernobyl Prayer), Moscow: Ostozhye, 1997. .
  • (English, US) Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster. Dalkey Archive Press 2005, translated by Keith Gessen.
  • (English, UK) Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future. Penguin Modern Classics 2016, translated by Anna Gunin and Arch Tait. New translation of the revised edition published in 2013.
  • (German) Tschernobyl. Eine Chronik der Zukunft. Aufbau, Berlin 2006, .
  • (Portuguese) Vozes de Chernobyl: Histórias de um desastre nuclear., Elsinore, 2016.
  • (Hungarian) Csernobili ima. Európa, 2016.
  • (Turkish) Çernobil Duası - Geleceğin Tarihi. Kafka Yayınevi, 2017. Translated by Aslı Takanay. .
  • (Georgian) ჩერნობილის ლოცვა. თბილისი: არტანუჯი, 2015. .^[76]
  • (Finnish) Tšernobylista nousee rukous. Tulevaisuuden kronikka. Helsinki: Tammi, 2015. Translated by Marja-Leena Jaakkola. ISBN 978-951-31-8951-8.
  • (Catalan) La pregària de Txernòbil. Crònica del futur. Raig Verd, 2016. Translated by Marta Rebón.
  • (Vietnamese) Lời nguyện cầu Chernobyl. Biên niên sử của tương lai. 2020. Nhà xuất bản Phụ nữ. Translated by Phạm Ngọc Thạch and Nguyễn Bích Lan. ISBN
• Время секонд хэнд (Vremya sekond khend, Second-hand Time), Moscow: Vremia, 2013. .
  • (Belarusian) Час сэканд-хэнд (Канец чырвонага чалавека) / Святлана Алексіевіч. Перакл. з руск. Ц. Чарнякевіч, В. Стралко. — Мн.: Логвінаў, 2014. — 384 с. — (Бібліятэка Саюза беларускіх пісьменнікаў «Кнігарня пісьменніка»; выпуск 46). — .
  • (Dutch) Het einde van de rode mens. Leven op de puinhopen van de Sovjet-Unie. De Bezige Bij, Antwerpen, 2014,, translated by Jan Robert Braat.
  • (German) Secondhand-Zeit. Leben auf den Trümmern des Sozialismus. Hanser Berlin, München 2013, ; als Taschenbuch: Suhrkamp, Berlin 2015, .^[77]
  • (Hungarian) Elhordott múltjaink. Európa, 2015. .
  • (English, US) . Random House 2016, translated by Bela Shayevich.
  • (Portuguese) O Fim do Homem Soviético. Elsinore, 2017, .
  • (Brazilian Portuguese) O Fim do Homem Soviético. Companhia das Letras, 2016, .
  • (Polish) Czasy secondhand. Koniec czerwonego człowieka. Czarne 2014, translated by Jerzy Czech
  • (Turkish) İkinci El Zaman - Kızıl İnsanın Sonu. Kafka Yayınevi, 2016. Translated by Sabri Gürses. .
  • (Georgian) სექენდ ჰენდის დრო. თბილისი: არტანუჯი, 2017. .^[78]
  • (Finnish) Neuvostoihmisen loppu. Kun nykyhetkestä tuli second handia. Helsinki: Tammi, 2018. Translated by Vappu Orlov. .
  • (Catalan) Temps de segona mà. La fi de l'home roig. Raig Verd, 2015. . New revised edition. Raig Verd, 2022. Translated by Marta Rebón.

External links

• Svetlana Alexievich's website - Contains biography, bibliography and excerpts.
• Biography at the international literature festival berlin
• including the Nobel Lecture 7 December 2015 On the Battle Lost

Interviews

• "The Guardian, A Life In..." , Interview by Luke Harding, April 2016
• "A Conversation with Svetlana Alexievich", Dalkey Archive Press
• Between the public and the private: Svetlana Aleksievich interviews Ales' Adamovich Canadian Slavonic Papers/ Revue Canadienne des Slavistes

Excerpts

• Selections from Voices From Chernobyl in The Paris Review, 2015

Articles about Svetlana Alexievich

• "The Truth in Many Voices" Timothy Snyder, NYRB, October 2015
• "The Memory Keeper" Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, October 2015.
• "From Russia with Love" Bookforum, August 2016.
• A conspiracy of ignorance and obedience, The Telegraph, 2015
• Svetlana Alexievich: Belarusian Language Is Rural And Literary Unripe, Belarus Digest, June 2013
• Belarusian Nobel laureate Sviatlana Alieksijevič hit by a smear campaign Belarus Digest, July 2017

Academic articles about Svetlana Alexievich's works

• Escrita, biografia e sensibilidade: o discurso da memória soviética de Svetlana Aleksiévitch como um problema historiográfico João Camilo Portal
• Mothers, father(s), daughter: Svetlana Aleksievich and The Unwomanly Face of War Angela Brintlinger
• "No other proof": Svetlana Aleksievich in the tradition of Soviet war writing Daniel Bush
• Mothers, prostitutes, and the collapse of the USSR: the representation of women in Svetlana Aleksievich's Zinky Boys Jeffrey W. Jones
• Svetlana Aleksievich's Voices from Chernobyl: between an oral history and a death lament Anna Karpusheva
• The polyphonic performance of testimony in Svetlana Aleksievich's Voices from Utopia Johanna Lindbladh
• A new literary genre. Trauma and the individual perspective in Svetlana Aleksievich's Chernobyl'skaia molitva Irina Marchesini
• Svetlana Aleksievich's changing narrative of the Soviet–Afghan War in Zinky Boys Holly Myers

Other

• Lukashenko's comment on Alexievich (1''12 video, in Russian, no subtitles)
• Svetlana Alexievich at Goodreads
• Svetlana Alexievich Quotes With Pictures at Rugusavay.com
  • List of Works

Notes and References

1. Her name is also transliterated as Aleksievich or Aleksiyevich. Belarusian: Святла́на Алякса́ндраўна Алексіе́віч Svyatlana Alaksandrawna Aleksiyevich in Belarusian pronounced as /alʲɛksʲiˈjɛvʲit͡ʂ/; Russian: link=no|Светла́на Алекса́ндровна Алексие́вич pronounced as /ru/; Ukrainian: Світлана Олександрівна Алексієвич.
2. Blissett, Chelly. "Author Svetlana Aleksievich nominated for 2014 Nobel Prize ". Yekaterinburg News. 28 January 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
3. News: Treijs. Erica. Nobelpriset i litteratur till Svetlana Aleksijevitj. Nobel Prize in literature to Svetlana Aleksijevitj. 8 October 2015. Svenska Dagbladet. 8 October 2015. sv. 18 November 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151118223335/http://www.svd.se/nedrakning-snart-avslojas-nobelpriset-i-litteratur. live.
4. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34475251 Svetlana Alexievich wins Nobel Literature prize
5. Web site: Belarussian writer wins Nobel prize, denounces Russia over Ukraine . . 8 October 2015 . 8 October 2015 . Daniel . Dickson . Andrei . Makhovsky . Stockholm/Minsk . 1 February 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160201185023/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nobel-prize-literature-idUSKCN0S21AQ20151008 . live.
6. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich, investigative journalist from Belarus, wins Nobel Prize in Literature . Pbs.org . 2013-10-13 . 2015-10-08 . 2015-10-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151009152124/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/svetlana-alexievich-investigative-journalist-belarus-wins-nobel-prize-literature/ . live.
7. Web site: Colin Dwyer . Belarusian Journalist Svetlana Alexievich Wins Literature Nobel : The Two-Way . NPR . 2015-06-28 . 2015-10-08 . 2015-10-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151009065735/http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/08/446840662/belarusian-journalist-svetlana-alexievich-wins-literature-nobel . live.
8. News: Remembering the Great Patriotic War was a political act. 21 July 2017. The Economist. 20 July 2017. 21 July 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170721194602/https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21725273-svetlana-alexievichs-unwomanly-face-war-was-part-peculiarly-soviet-debate. live.
9. http://who.bdg.by/obj.php?&kod=262 Brief biography of Svetlana Alexievich (Russian)
10. Web site: 2015 Nobel Laureate Alexievich Discusses Polish Influences . . October 13, 2015 . 17 April 2022.
11. Web site: 4 Books To Read By Svetlana Alexievitch, Nobel Prize Literature Winner And Ukrainian-Belarusian Author. International Business Times. 2015-10-08. 2016-08-16. 2016-08-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20160822202409/http://www.ibtimes.com/4-books-read-svetlana-alexievitch-nobel-prize-literature-winner-ukrainian-belarusian-2132614. live.
12. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich's 'Zinky Boys' gives voice to the voiceless. Los Angeles Times. 3 December 2015. 2016-08-16. 2016-08-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20160816001309/http://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-svetlana-alexievich-20151206-story.html. live.
13. News: Svetlana Alexievich wins 2015 Nobel prize in literature. Flood. Alison. 2015-10-08. Harding. Luke. The Guardian. en-GB. 0261-3077. agencies. 2016-08-16. 2016-09-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20160906203202/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/08/svetlana-alexievich-wins-2015-nobel-prize-in-literature. live.
14. http://www.lannan.org/bios/svetlana-alexievich Biography of Aleksievich
15. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich: The Empire Will Not Pass Away Without Bloodshed. 18 September 2014. www.belarusians.co.uk. 8 October 2015. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150919065259/http://belarusians.co.uk/2014/09/18/svetlana-alexievich-the-empire-will-not-pass-away-without-bloodshed/. 19 September 2015.
16. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich. www.pen-deutschland.de. PEN-Zentrum Deutschland. 8 October 2015. 24 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150924070652/http://www.pen-deutschland.de/en/themen/writers-in-exile/ehemalige-stipendiaten/swetlana-alexijewitsch/. live.
17. Web site: Winners of the Peace Prize. www.friedenspreis-des-deutschen-buchhandels.de. Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels. 8 October 2015. German. 13 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151013205625/http://www.friedenspreis-des-deutschen-buchhandels.de/445950/?aid=626480. dead.
18. News: Svetlana Alexievich Wins Nobel Prize in Literature. 8 October 2015. 8 October 2015. The New York Times. Alexandra. Alter. 8 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151008124609/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/books/svetlana-alexievich-nobel-prize-literature.html. live.
19. Web site: Быков. Дмитрий. ru:О присуждении Светлане Алексиевич Нобелевской премии по литературе. http://echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/1636786-echo/. Echo of Moscow. 8 October 2015. ru. 10 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151010052516/http://echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/1636786-echo/. live.
20. Web site: Някляеў: Шанцы Беларусі на Нобелеўскую прэмію як ніколі высокія. Nasha Niva. 8 October 2015. be. 8 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151208210416/http://nn.by/?c=ar&i=116304. live. Original quote: "Калі ўся руская літаратура выйшла, як сцвярджаў Дастаеўскі, з «Шыняля» Гогаля, то ўся творчасць Алексіевіч – з дакументальнай кнігі Алеся Адамовіча, Янкі Брыля і Уладзіміра Калесніка «Я з вогненнай вёскі». Адамовіч — яе літаратурны хросны". Rough translation: "If the entire Russian literature came, as Dostoyevsky stated, from the Gogol's Overcoat, then the entire writings of Alexievich came from the documentary book of Ales Adamovich, Yanka Bryl and Uladzimir Kalesnik I'm from the flamy village. Adamovich is her literary godfather".
21. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich: It is not my victory alone, but also a victory of our culture and the country. Belarusian Telegraph Agency. 8 October 2015. 2015-10-08. 2015-10-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20151009214459/http://eng.belta.by/culture/view/svetlana-alexievich-it-is-not-my-victory-alone-but-also-a-victory-of-our-culture-and-the-country-86012-2015/. live.
22. News: http://www.bbc.com/russian/society/2015/12/151224_alexievich_interview_newshour . ru:Алексиевич: "Есть мой путь, и я иду этим путём" . ru . Alexievich interview . BBC News . 24 December 2015 . 31 December 2015 . 26 December 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151226214512/http://www.bbc.com/russian/society/2015/12/151224_alexievich_interview_newshour . live.
23. Web site: Voices From Chernobyl. 20 April 2015 . Fairewinds Education. 8 October 2015. 17 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151017152325/http://www.fairewinds.org/nuclear-energy-education/voices-from-chernobyl. live.
24. Web site: Osipovich. Alexander. True Stories. The Moscow Times. 19 March 2004. 8 October 2015. 29 June 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160629053402/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/article/true-stories/365300.html. live.
25. С. Алексиевич. У войны — не женское лицо. Октябрь, 1984(2). (S. Alexievich. War's Unwomanly Face. Oktyabr, 1984(2).)
26. Web site: Карпов. Евгений. ru:Светлана Алексиевич получила Нобелевскую премию по литературе – первую в истории Беларуси. http://news.tut.by/culture/467702.html. www.tut.by. Tut.By. 8 October 2015. 8 October 2015. ru. 9 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151009163608/http://news.tut.by/culture/467702.html. live. Quote: "Первая книга — «У войны не женское лицо» — была готова в 1983 и пролежала в издательстве два года. Автора обвиняли в пацифизме, натурализме и развенчании героического образа советской женщины. «Перестройка» дала благотворный толчок."
27. Web site: Golesnik. Sergey. Black-and-white war monologues stir hearts. www.sb.by. The Minsk Times. 16 July 2009. 8 October 2015. 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113400/http://www.sb.by/files/MT/09/N26/10.pdf. live.
28. Alexievich, "Boys in Zinc" p.18
29. Alexievich, "Boys in Zinc", p. 20
30. Alexievich, "Boys in Zinc" p.30
31. Griegoriev. "Vecherny Minsk", 2 June 1992.
32. The Belarus League for Human Rights cited in the Epilogue of "Boys in Zinc"
33. Web site: Saxena. Ranjana. On Reading 'Enchanted with Death' by Svetlana Aleksievich: Narratives of Nostalgia and Loss. 2013 ICCEES IX World Congress. 8 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121030/http://c-linkage.com/abs/iccees2015/program/abstractview.php?uid=1107&pid=3173&role=3. 4 March 2016. dead. dmy-all.
34. Web site: ru:Госиздательства Беларуси не выпускали книги Алексиевич больше 20 лет. http://news.tut.by/society/467800.html. www.tut.by. Tut.By. 8 October 2015. 8 October 2015. ru. 10 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151010004347/http://news.tut.by/society/467800.html. dead.
35. ru:Впервые за долгое время премия вручается автору в жанре нон-фикшн. http://www.kommersant.ru/Doc/2827474. Kommersant. 8 October 2015. 8 October 2015. ru. 9 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151009185713/http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2827474. live. Quote: "Но она известно гораздо больше за пределами Белоруссии, чем в Белоруссии. Она уважаемый европейский писатель".
36. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34475251 Svetlana Alexievich wins Nobel Literature prize
37. Witness Tampering. Pinkham. Sophie. 29 August 2016. The New Republic. 30 August 2016. 30 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160830171621/https://newrepublic.com/article/135719/witness-tampering. live.
38. Web site: ПЭН-ГЕЙт: вяртанне блуднага Севярынца насуперак "культурным марксістам" . 2019-10-27 . 2019-10-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191027092759/https://euroradio.fm/pen-geyt-vyartanne-bludnaga-sevyarynca-nasuperak-kulturnym-marksistam . live.
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40. Web site: МАЯ КРАІНА БЕЛАРУСЬ. Telegram. 2020-09-08. 2020-09-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20200913040150/https://t.me/mkbelarus/9106. live.
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43. News: Gatinois. Claire. 9 September 2020. Svetlana Alexievitch, Prix Nobel de littérature, à son tour menacée par le régime en Biélorussie. Le Monde. 9 September 2020.
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46. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich: Nobel laureate leaves Belarus for Germany. Deutsche Welle. 28 November 2020. 1 October 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201001160256/https://www.dw.com/en/svetlana-alexievich-nobel-laureate-leaves-belarus-for-germany/a-55079649. live.
47. Web site: З праграмы літаратуры для беларускіх школаў выкрасьлілі кнігу Алексіевіч . 2021-08-09 . 2021-08-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210809185417/https://belaruspartisan.by/bel/life/542825/ . live.
48. Web site: Из белорусской школьной программы по литературе исключили произведения Солженицына, Набокова и Алексиевич . 2021-08-09 . 2021-08-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210809185417/https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/08/08/iz-belorusskoi-shkolnoi-programmy-po-literature-iskliuchili-proizvedeniia-solzhenitsyna-nabokova-i-aleksievich-news . live.
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50. Web site: 9 Aug 2018 . Belarusian Nobel Laureate Alexievich Cancels Event In Ukraine Amid Threats . 2023-01-06 . RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty . en.
51. Web site: 5 March 2022 . Belarusian Nobel Laureate Alexievich Says Lukashenka's Actions Over Ukraine A 'Crime' . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220306225741/https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-alexievich-lukashenka-crime/31737561.html . 6 March 2022 . 2022-03-28 . . en.
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53. Сергей Чупринин: Русская литература сегодня: Зарубежье. М.: Время, 2008 г.
54. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich . internationales literaturfestival berlin . 10 September 2012 . 24 August 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200824020328/https://www.literaturfestival.com/autoren-en/autoren-2010-en/svetlana-alexijewitsch/fokus.alexijewitsch.biographie.en.rtf . live.
55. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich: Voices from Big Utopia . 10 January 2014 . 22 December 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151222123347/http://www.alexievich.info/biogr_EN.html . live.
56. Web site: Friedenspreis des deutschen Buchhandels 2013 . 10 January 2014 . de . 3 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175135/http://www.boersenverein.de/445950/?aid=626480 . dead.
57. Web site: Fatou Jaw Manneh Amongst Four Writers Honoured By Oxfam Novib/PEN . FOROYAA Newspaper . 20 February 2008 . 10 September 2012 . dead . https://archive.today/20130107093935/http://www.foroyaa.gm/index.php/burning-issue/1259-gambia-news-archive . 7 January 2013.
58. News: Svetlana Alexievich Named Winner of the Angelus Central European Literary Award . 2017-12-26 . 2017-12-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171226182426/https://culture.pl/en/event/svetlana-alexievich-named-winner-of-the-angelus-central-european-literary-award . live.
59. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich of Belarus wins German literary prize . . msh/ipj (dpa, KNA) . 20 June 2013 . 21 June 2013.
60. News: Le Monde. Marie Darrieussecq reçoit le prix Médicis pour "Il faut beaucoup aimer les hommes". 12 November 2013. 13 November 2013. fr. 12 November 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131112175349/http://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2013/11/12/marie-darrieussecq-recoit-le-prix-medicis-pour-il-faut-beaucoup-aimer-les-hommes_3512383_3260.html. live.
61. Web site: Писательнице Светлане Алексиевич вручили французский орден. 2014-10-24. Российская газета. ru. 2019-10-19. 2019-10-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20191019220221/https://rg.ru/2014/10/24/nagrada.html. live.
62. Web site: Prizes – Svetlana Alexievich. en-GB. 2019-10-19. 2019-10-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20191023183503/http://alexievich.info/en/prizes.html. live.
63. Web site: Armitstead. Claire. Flood. Alison. Bausells. Marta. Nobel prize in literature: Svetlana Alexievich wins 'for her polyphonic writings' – live. 8 October 2015. The Guardian. 8 October 2015. 8 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151008222104/http://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2015/oct/08/nobel-prize-in-literature-follow-it-live. live.
64. Web site: John Pomfret's "The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom" Wins 2017 CFR Arthur Ross Book Award . Council on Foreign Relations . November 15, 2017 . December 23, 2017 . December 24, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171224042421/https://www.cfr.org/news-releases/john-pomfrets-beautiful-country-and-middle-kingdom-wins-2017-cfr-arthur-ross-book-0 . live.
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66. http://www.radabnr.org/bnr100-miensk-18062019/ Мэдаль да 100-годзьдзя БНР уручаны С. Шушкевічу, С. Алексіевіч, Ул. Арлову, Р. Гарэцкаму, С. Антончыку
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69. Web site: Nobel Prize winner to get Denmark's top culture award. The Christian Post. September 29, 2020. November 26, 2020. November 25, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201125210909/https://cphpost.dk/?p=118810#:~:text=The%20University%20of%20Copenhagen%20(KU,Alexievich%20its%20prestigious%20Sonning%20Prize.. live.
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71. Web site: Svetlana Alexievich: The Anna Politkovskaya Memorial Lecture. The British Library. 2019-10-07. 2020-08-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20200807202013/https://www.bl.uk/events/svetlana-alexievich-the-anna-politkovskaya-memorial-lecture. live.
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74. Briefly reviewed in the January 2023 issue of Harper's Magazine, pp.71–73.
75. spiegel.de 1992: Auszug
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77. http://www.dradio.de/aktuell/2150077/ Eine Stimme der Sprachlosen.
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