Belarusian poets decline invitation of official Union of Writers
They were invited to take part in the round table discussion at Minsk International Book Fair.
The round table discussion dedicated to young literature is appointed on February 9. The organizers are the Union of Writers of Belarus and the holding "Literature and Art" (L&A).
One of the invited - poet Vital Ryzhkou, whose book "Doors Closed by Keys" is about to be published for the second time. Vital has said in a conversation with Euroradio that he was very surprised by this invitation:
Ryzhkou: "I was surprised as they invited me in Russian. The only Belarusian word that I heard from the girl who invited me was the abbreviation "L&A".
Ryzhkou turned down the invitation: he only pans to come to his autograph-session which will take place at 2 p.m. on February 9 near the booth in the Lohvinau Bookshop.
Besides, not only the poets who are not members of any creative associations like Ryzhkou received the invitations. Members of the disfavoured Union of Belarusian Writers Anatol Ivaschanka and Usevalad Stseburaka were also invited. They declined the invitation as well. Stseburaka has explained the reasons for that in a comment to Euroradio:
Stseburaka: "I don't think it will be useful or helpful, this is done most likely to give more external credibility to the forum. As far as I know I am not the only one who refused. I think that this artificially created Union is a profanation, and all conscious and adequate people share this opinion. It is not useful for a creative person to participate in things like this, either for creativity or personal development. This is not a dialogue between some trends, one will feel ashamed for this afterwards..."
In the photo: Usevalad Stseburaka and Vital Ryzhkou ( budzma.org, radzimaphoto.com)
