Literature in exile

On 24 September at 3 p.m., Villa Decius will host another event as part of 'Culture in Exile'.

The villa space will host three prominent Belarusian artists - Dmitri Strotsev, Nasta Kudasava and Artur Kamaroŭski - who were forced into political exile from their homeland.
The leitmotif of the meeting will be a discussion of the obstacles and difficulties currently faced by Belarusian artists whose artistic freedom has been threatened by the political situation in Belarus.

Our meeting will be accompanied by the metaphor of the red thread understood as a destiny to spread the truth - in the case of Belarusian male and female artists - through their work. It is also a reference to the name of the German publishing house Hochroth (German for visible red, high red), a branch of which was opened in Berlin by one of our guests to enable and support the creative work of Belarusian male and female authors in political exile,-  says Kasia Ioffe, who will lead the meeting with Belarusian artists at Villa Decius.

Due to the expected high attendance, registration for the meeting via the form is obligatory:
https://tiny.pl/cd39z

Artur Kamaroŭski - (born in 1991) Belarusian poet, performer, artist and journalist, MA in linguistics. Member of the artistic ensemble "Krasnyj Borshchevik". In 2013 he graduated from the creative writing school of the Union of Belarusian Writers. Since 2020, he has been a graduate of the Poetry and Translation Department of the Young Writers' School "V/rava" of the Union of Belarusian Writers. He is the author of a collection of poetry entitled. "Vada pačynaje žyć" (Water begins to live), for which he was awarded the Maksim Bahdanovič Prize as the best poetic debut in 2021. In 2023, in London, he published a volume of poetry titled "The Water begins to live", in collaboration with the publishing house Skaryna Press. "Corpus Vile". In the same year, he also published a volume entitled. "Ja i yość zabaronieny ściah" (I am just a forbidden flag) by the hochroth-Minsk publishing house.

Nasta Kudasava - (born 1984 in Rohachovo) Belarusian poet, translator, MA in literary studies. Author of several poetry volumes, including 'Ja praciahvaju' (I continue) published in 2023 in cooperation with the hochroth-Minsk publishing house. Recipient of many honours and poetry awards, including the 2016 Book of the Year from the Belarusian PEN Club. Participant of numerous international poetry festivals and literary residencies.

Dmitry Strotsev - (born 1963 in Minsk) Belarusian Russian-language poet, essayist, literary critic and publisher. He is known for his poetic performances, which refer to the avant-garde tradition and the figure of the neofolk bard. For years, he has directed the 'Minsk School' project, dedicated to dissident and protest poetry of the Soviet era. In the autumn of 2020, he was imprisoned for his participation in the protests in Belorussia following Lukashenko's rigged presidential elections. After leaving prison, he was forced into political exile.In 2022. Dmitry Strotsev presented his poetic programme in 4 languages 'Where I was for 15 years - I shouted' with the participation of translators (Ukrainian, Polish and Belarusian) at Villa Decius. In 2023, he opened a branch of the Hochroth publishing house (hochroth-Minsk) in Berlin and has since been actively publishing books by Belarusian authors, mainly on protest poetry and opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.