Born in Ukraine in 1948 Alexievich was recognised for her portrayal of life in the Soviet Union
Nobel literature prize winner Svetlana Alexievich has been greeted by her fans on her return to Belarus. At Minsk airport she answered well-wishers who said she had made them cry with happiness.
“You made me cry as well. There are many of us and we are together despite everything. I love you all very much, my friends,” she said.
Asked by a reporter if the Alexievich, critical of Belarus’ government, was surprised not to find authorities waiting for her, she said: “No, but it is just it’s great. You know we live separate from them and they live separate from us. It is all clear by now and we got used to it by now. Maybe the time will come when they will think about it and understand that all of us have to live together.”
Alexievich was recognised for her portrayal of life in the former Soviet Union which the Swedish Nobel Academy said was “a monument to suffering and courage in our time”.
The author says her Nobel for Literature is a prize not only for her but for Belarus, a country she described as being “always pressed from all sides”. Alexievich’s work includes chronicles of the lives of Soviet women during the Second World War as well as of the consequences of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl and the Russian war in Afghanistan told from the perspective of ordinary citizens.
Source: http://uatoday.tv/society/nobel-winning-writer-svetlana-alexievich-returns-to-belarus-555039.html