Swetlana Alexijewitsch

Svetlana Alexievich

She tells the story of the red utopian idea: In her award-winning books, Svetlana Alexievich gives a voice to contemporary witnesses and preserves their memories from falling into oblivion. From World War II to until our present times she holds a mirror up to the world that shows the blatant absurdity of war and violence.

Born in 1948 as the daughter of a Ukranian woman and a Byelorussian soldier, she grew up in Belarus and worked as a reporter and teacher after studying journalism. In 2015 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Photo: Margarita Kabakowa