To the 100th anniversary of the birth of the People's Writer of Belarus

Ivan Shamyakin

Ivan Petrovich Shamyakin was born on January 30, 1921 in the village of Korma (now the Dobrush District of the Gomel Region) in the family of a forester. He spent his childhood in his native village.He graduated from the Gomel College of Building Materials. During his studies he took an active part in the meetings of the literary association at the newspaper "Gomelskaya Pravda". In 1940 he was sent to work in Bialystok.

After a while, Ivan Shamyakin was drafted into the Red Army. He served in an anti-aircraft artillery unit near Murmansk. During the Great Patriotic War, he took part in the battles near Murmansk, Kandalaksha, Petrozavodsk, during the liberation of Poland. He was distinguished by military valor and considerable organizational skills, as evidenced by military awards.

Ivan Shamyakin was an interesting storyteller, so the soldiers listened to him with pleasure. For the authorities, he drew up all sorts of reports, issued a wall newspaper, combat sheets. Then he began to publish in the army newspapers.

After demobilization, he worked as a teacher of literature and language. In his spare time, he wrote stories and stories about the past war. He studied at the correspondence department of the V.P. Chkalov Gomel Pedagogical Institute.

For more than twenty years Ivan Shamyakin worked in the Writers' Union of the BSSR. In 1980-1992 he was the chief editor of the publishing house "Belaruskaya Entsyklapedyya" named after P. Brovka.

Ivan Shamyakin gained a lot of life experience during the WW II. The immortal exploits of his peers forever entered his stories, stories and novels. He was one of the first in Soviet literature to write on the theme of the Great Patriotic War.

In total, 12 novels, 26 stories, 10 plays, several dozen stories, diary entries, a huge number of articles, essays were published from the pen of Ivan Shamyakin. For 60 years of his creative career, 130 books of the writer with a total circulation of over 25 million copies have been published.

Films and theatrical performances have been created based on the writer's works. Ivan Shamyakin's work has received national recognition and love both in Belarus and abroad. His books have been translated into over 30 languages.

Prepared by Zina O.,10 form student

Belarusian Fashion Week

The Republican Public Association "Belarusian Chamber of Fashion", with the support of A1 company, holds ethical fashion shows as part of the Belarus Fashion Week. Everyone will have a chance to watch shows for free on the VOKA video service on April 3 and 4.

At the Fashion Week, there will be five collections of Belarusian designers presented, created from natural materials, to show how the search for solutions to our time's environmental problems changes even the fashion industry.

"Consumers and designers are becoming more and more aware of the fast fashion environmental and social consequences: increased toxic emissions from textile factories, water pollution from the production of synthetic fibers, soil degradation, and forest extinction. That's why it is so important to promote ethical and sustainable fashion, and we have been doing it for the past few years," said Yanina Goncharova, Founder of the Belarus Fashion Week and Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Fashion.

The Republican Public Association "Belarusian Chamber of Fashion", with the support of A1 company, holds ethical fashion shows as part of the Belarus Fashion Week. Everyone will have a chance to watch shows for free on the VOKA video service on April 3 and 4.

At the Fashion Week, there will be five collections of Belarusian designers presented, created from natural materials, to show how the search for solutions to our time's environmental problems changes even the fashion industry.

To the 100th anniversary of the birth of the People's Writer of Belarus

Ivan Melezh

Ivan Melezh ( 8 February 1921 — 9 August 1976) was a Belarusian writer of fiction and drama. He was born in a peasant family. In 1939, he entered the Moscow Institute of History, Philosophy and Literature, but was there for only a year when he was drafted into the Red Army and served in the Odessa and Rostov-on-Don areas. He was seriously injured in 1942 and was moved to the rear following his recovery.

Initially, he studied at Baku State University. He later taught Belarusian literature at Belarusian State University in Minsk. From 1945, he was a member of the Union of Soviet Writers, serving as Secretary after 1966 and Deputy Chairman from 1971 to 1974.

He was designated a People's Writer of the Belarusian SSR in 1972 and was awarded numerous prizes, including the Lenin prize for his novels People of the Marsh and The Storm's Breath.

The central place in Melezh's work is made up by the novels of the Polesye Chronicle: People of the Marsh, The Storm's Breath and Snowstorm in December. These novels portray the life in his homeland in the 1920s and 1930s: the establishment of socialism, forced collectivization. Melezh attempted to depict the history of this era truthfully, within the constraints imposed by the Soviet regime.

Alice B.,10 form student

I see such Belarus

On January 20 our students went to the photo exhibition "I see such Belarus" of Vladislav Tsidik. He is the author and co-author of 30 books and brochures.

"I became interested in photography as a child, in the fifth grade, - says the photographer. - I haven't left the camera since then. My favorite "model" has always been our nature, and today I am happy to share with you my work, my vision of my homeland". The photo exhibition is a kind of recognition of the master's love for his native land. It's not just figures and faces that get into his lens. In nature, various objects and people Vladislav Tsydzik sees the main, essential thing that helps to present our country in all colors and paints.

Prepared by Alina S., 8 form student