Uładzimier Arłoŭ | Belarus

(b. 1952 in Polotsk) – one of the most popular Belarusian poets; a historian and prose writer. After graduating from the Belarusian State University in Minsk with a degree in history, he worked as a teacher and journalist. From 1988 he worked for the publishing house “Mastackaja literatura” and joined the Belarusian Popular Front. In 1996 he was dismissed from his job at the publishing house for “publishing among other things, historical literature of dubious quality”. He supported democratic candidates in the presidential elections. In 2007, his works were removed from the school curriculum. He was active in the Belarusian PEN Club and the Independent Union of Belarusian Writers. He has published more than 20 volumes of prose and several volumes of poetry. In 2018, he was awarded the Jerzy Giedroyć Prize. His books have been translated into many languages. Two selections of his short stories and a volume of poetry have been published in Polish.