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Contributor

Uladzimir Niakliaeu

Contributor

Uladzimir Niakliaeu

Uladzimir Niakliaeu is one of the most prominent contemporary Belarusian writers, as well as a social and political activist. Although he wrote his first poetry in Russian, he later chose to write his native Belarusian. The former president of Belarusian PEN, he was also an opposition candidate for president in 2010, when he was jailed for his political activity.  He was released the following year and remains under house arrest.

Articles by Uladzimir Niakliaeu

from Baudelaire
By Uladzimir Niakliaeu
They won't come at night and torture you in a dim cellar behind bars. Sleep, criminal! There's nobody to ask if you are guilty or not guilty. Your judge is sleeping, your guards are asleep, and…
Translated from Belarusian by Valzhyna Mort
Memory of Cranes
By Uladzimir Niakliaeu
A migrating bird has broken its wing against the wire of my father's house. Now it shrieks as if somebody were sawing iron: It's you! It's your fault! In response, the flock turns around.…
Translated from Belarusian by Valzhyna Mort
A Game
By Uladzimir Niakliaeu
Before noon the sky grew dark and later it fell on the road as black fire. I leaned, picked up the fire, and tossed it from one hand to the other. The fire scorched my right hand, and blackened the left.…
Translated from Belarusian by Valzhyna Mort