Day of Literature without Hilevich and Buraukin
Every year a day of the first week of September is celebrated as the Day of Belarusian Literature. Usually this day is celebrated by cities with rich historical heritage, centers of culture, education and book printing. Representatives of the older literary organization, the Union of Belarusian Writers, were not invited to the official measures.
There will be many cultural measures, scientific conferences and meetings with writers
Only members of the new one, pro-governmental Union of Writers of Belarus, headed by the military general Mikalai Charhinets, were invited. There will be no members of the Union of Belarusian Writers, headed by ales Pashkevich. Even the ‘godfather’ of the holiday Nil Hilevich was not invited. It was Hilevich who proposed to establish such a day during his being a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the 12th Convocation.
‘I was not invited, that’s for sure’, commented the poet Henadz Buraukin. ‘I am afraid that none of the members of our union was invited. It is already becoming a strange and sad tradition. For some reason the organizers of this celebration judge literary workers not by their works, but by organizational principle.’
