Vasil' Uladzimiravič Bykaŭ Васіль Уладзіміравіч Быкаў; name also spelled (from Russian): Bykov; Vasil' Bykaw Fiction Writer (he's often referred to as "the conscience of the nation") (June 19, 1924 -- June 22, 2003)

Photo Credit: Сьцяна (The Wall), A collection of short stories
(in Belarusian) by Vasil' Bykaŭ, Nasha Niva, Mensk (1998); frontispiece.

Note: Cyrillic Belarusian and any other special character sets on this page are in Unicode (UTF-8) font encoding.

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See collection of news articles about Vasil' Bykaŭ on this Web site. In addition to being the greatest modern Belarusian writer, Sp. Bykaŭ is one of the most responsible international spokespeople for Belarus today.

Updates

• September 16, 2005: Professor Zina J.Gimpelevich has published a full-length biography and critical discussion of Vasil' Bykaŭ's work: Vasil Bykau: His Life and Works
• Follow the link on the page to see a list of retailers (online and stores) where the book may be purchased (Vasil Bykau: His Life and Works; McGill-Queen's University Press; ISBN: 0773529004; 9.5 x 6.9 x 0.9 inches; 1.33 pounds; 288 pages; 35 b&w photographs.
• June 23, 2004: Collection of articles (in Russian) in PDF format from the Charter 97 Web site on Vasil Bykaŭ's 80th birthday and the first anniversary of his death (June, 2004). Note: This file is about one-half megabyte in size (that is, about 600 KB).
• "Letter" page (US) format: birthday/memorial articles (letter format)
• "A4" page format: birthday/memorial articles (A4 format)
• Jun 10, 2004: Kniga publishes book of recollections about Vasil Bykaŭ.     Source: BelaPAN, Jun 10, 2004, 20:50

• May 6, 2004: Yanka Kupala National Academic Theater to premiere Bykaŭ's Alpine Ballad on May 7 [2004].     Source: BelaPAN, May 6, 2004, 16:55

• April 12, 2004: The Belarusian State Register of Cinema and Video Films of the Belarusian Ministry of Culture refused to issue a distribution certificate allowing viewing in Belarus of the documentary (directed by Iryna Pismennaya), Long Way Home. . .Requiem to the independent film studio Tatsiana. The documentary presents the life and creative work of the Belarusian writer Vasil Bykaŭ. The stated reason for the refusal is that the film will "negatively influence the moral and ethical core of the Belarusian people".     Source: Charter 97, April 12, 2004

• January 12, 2004: Museum to open in Vasil Bykaŭ's native village this summer [2004].     Source: BelaPAN, 2004-01-12, 14:15:00

• June 25, 2003: Vasil Bykaŭ was buried in the East Cemetery in Miensk, after a public funeral. Thousands turned out in a sea of traditional red and white, including the traditional Belarusian flag. (Note: Not the colors nor the flag of the Lukashenka regime that currently rules Belarus.)
• June 22, 2003: Sp. Bykaŭ died near Miensk, Belarus, at about 10 pm on this Sunday evening, in an oncology clinic in Borovlyany. Refer to the following articles from Charter 97 for more details (in English): Search results: Bykov (Bykaŭ).
  Although there are many more articles and details if you understand Belarusian and Russian: Search results: Bykaŭ (in Russian/Belarusian)
• June 9, 2003: According to InterFax (as reported by Charter 97, Sp. Bykaŭ returned to Belarus on June 6th [2003] for medical treatment.
• Vasil' Bykaŭ Web site with his works in English, Belarusian, and Russian: www.bykau.by.ru     [Note: Link information provided by the   Charter 97   Web site. Some of this English summary about Sp. Bykaŭ on this A Belarus Miscellany Web site is also repeated on the new Web site.]

Vasil' Bykaŭ is one of Belarus' (& the world's) greatest writers, and certainly one of the best known.

He has also been an active spokesperson for Belarusian democratic, human rights, cultural, and linguistic identity, which has gotten him into trouble with the regime ruling Belarus. Those interests were also the cause of his exile from Belarus, and interfered with his ability to publish there.

He has received many international prizes, including the Soviet & Belarusian: "Order of the Red Labor Banner" (1974), "People's Writer," BSSR (1980), "Hero of Soviet Labor" (1984), "Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st Degree (1985), "Order of the Friendship Between Peoples" (1994), Russia's "Order of Friendship" (Nov. 13, 1997), Italy's "San-Valentino International Golden Prize" (1998), & Russia's top independent literary prize, Triumph (1999), etc.

As of 1989, his book-length works have been translated into dozens of languages, totalling over 150 works for a total of approximately 14 million copies.

more. . .

Васіль Уладзіміравіч Быкаў нарадзіўся 19.6.1924 г. у вёсцы Бычкі Ушацкага раёна Віцебскай вобласці ў сялянскай сям'і. Вучыўся на скульптурным аддзяленні Віцебскага мастацкага вучылішча. Скончыў экстэрнам Кубліцкую сярэднюю школу. У пачатку Вялікай Айчыннай вайны ў складзе інжынернага батальёна ўдзельнічаў у будаўніцтве абаронных збудаванняў. Са жніўня 1942 г. - курсант Саратаўскага пяхотнага вучылішча (скончыў у лістападзе 1943).

more. . .

Major Works

This section includes a table that lists his major literary works (that is, novels and novellas) in Belarusian and translations into other languages--primarily English. When available, links are provided to other pages and/or Web sites.   more. . .

News Articles about Vasil' Bykaŭ

This section includes (links to) recent significant news articles, primarily in English.   more. . .

Other Information in Print and on the Internet

This section includes (links to) information elsewhere on the Web, primarily in English.   more. . .