The presentation of the book “Prison collection” took place in the hub “Novaya Ziamlya” in Bialystok. The publication contains poems, fairy tales, memoirs, short stories and journalistic texts in Belarusian and Russian by 52 prisoners in politically motivated criminal cases, written in 2020-2023.
“You can describe your prison experience in a year, two years, and ten years. It just depends on the form. That is, it will be a memoir, or it will be something artistic on this basis. Therefore, it was an idea to publish a collection, which will include works of various genres. And at the same time, to represent as many people as possible,” says the editor of the collection, human rights activist Alena Lapcionak.
One of the authors, former political prisoner Mikalai Papeka says that in the current conditions it has become very difficult to write and transmit his works from prison, but it needs to be done.
“The situation is such that even Belarusian books have started to be removed from libraries. There is much less space for creativity there. As Vasily Godulko once wrote, but you take and try to grow flowers without light. Writing there is not the best and not the most pleasant, but it is necessary,” the former political prisoner said.
The presentation of the “Prison collection” also have already been in Vilnius. The next one is scheduled for the evening of May 8 in Warsaw.
