Alexievich Wins Literature Nobel

It was Alexievich who defied the Russian and U.S. governments to alert the world not only to what happened on that April day in Chernobyl in 1986, but to report on the ongoing and horrific legacy of a nuclear explosion, as both governments preferred to downplay the tragedy and only acknowledged the immediate death toll, although its long-term effects are comparable to that inflicted on Hiroshima in 1945.

STOCKHOLM – Belarussian writer Svetlana Alexievich won the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, honoured for her work chronicling the horrors of war and life under the repressive Soviet regime.

Perhaps her most acclaimed book is “War’s Unwomanly Face” (1988), based on interviews with hundreds of women who took part in the second World War.

“It immediately evokes such great names as [Ivan] Bunin, [Boris] Pasternak”, Alexievich said, speaking of the prize.

The Nobel Prize in literature can be a boon for small publishers.

The 67 years old writer is known for her write-up over the history of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet individual.

On her website, Alexievich says she records conversations with 500 to 700 people for each book she writes.

Alexievich spent several years living outside Belarus after criticizing the country’s authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is up for re-election on Sunday.

(Her mother is Ukrainian.) When her father finished his military service, the family moved back to Belarus, where Alexievich studied journalism at the University of Minsk, according to the BBC.

“By means of her extraordinary method – a carefully composed collage of human voices – Alexievich deepens our comprehension of an entire era”, the academy said while announcing the prize of 8 million Swedish kronor (around $960,000) in Stockholm.

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to 3 scientists for parasite-fighting therapies. “I love the Belarusian people”, she said. “On the one hand, it’s such a fantastic feeling, but it’s also a bit disturbing”. But she has always been an uncomfortable writer for the authorities due to her humanistic, emotional tales of peoples’ fates entangled in major historic developments. “I usually spend three to four years writing a book, but this time it took me more than ten years”.

The Nobel awards week continues today with the other most closely watched Nobel award, the Peace Prize.

Not only Belarusian reporters turned up for Svetlana Alexievich’s press conference. The money comes from a bequest by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel and the awards, in existence since 1901, have become a top achievement award in each field.