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Svetlana Alexievich: The Voices of History

Conversation between Svetlana Alexievich and Francesc Serés

Debate

We have the privilege of a visit from Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2015. Through a dialogue with writer Francesc Serés, who is well-versed in her work, we will take a closer look at the life and literary career of this exceptional author.  

“If you look back at the whole of our history both Soviet and post-Soviet, it is a huge common grave and a blood bath. An eternal dialogue of executioners and victims. The accursed Russian questions: what is to be done and who is to blame. (…) Such is our history. And this is the theme of my books, this is my path, my circles of hell, from man to man.”

This is the description of the theme of her works offered by Svetlana Alexievich. The Swedish Academy highlighted her “polyphonic writings” and the fact that in her books “historical events are a pretext for exploring individuals and the human soul”. And the fact is that Alexievich has produced a powerful and committed body of work in which, between journalistic research and fiction, between nonfiction and literature, she has profiled her own literary genre: the “novel of voices”. Through the eyes of the common people, Alexievich tells of the most transcendental events that took place in the Soviet Union and the countries that formed part of it, with an honesty and a courage that position her among the great journalistic writers/ writer journalists of our time. 

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Svetlana Alexievich

The Voices of History

We take a closer look at the life and literary career of Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature, through a dialogue with writer Francesc Serés. 

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Nobel Laureates in Literature who have visited the CCCB

CCCB

The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona’s interest in literature is very much present in its programme, from exhibitions to debates, in performative activities such as Slam Poetry and in consolidated festivals such as Kosmopolis, Primera Persona and Món Llibre. The CCCB is writers’ ...

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