Belarus has another Literature Nobel Prize contender

The official Union of Belarusian Writers has nominated Heorhi Marchul for Literature Nobel Prize for the third time(!). Two previous attempts were in vain. The Union does not give up.

"We've made this choice basing on his works. He has a series of outstanding works, noticed both in the Republic and abroad. The chances are quite high if they are not politically biased...If the whole thing is about politics, then, naturally, other forces will come onstage", - says Chairman of the Union of Belarusian Writers Mikalaj Charhinets. 

Euroradio decided to look for the contender's books in the bookshops. We've found some, although we had to get down to our knees for this. We found a copy of the book "Sweet Tears", published in 2010, after a 5-minutes search on the very bottom shelf in the bookshop "Subscription Publications". The price for it is Br 15 thousand. There were even three books of the author in the "Central" bookshop. Apart from the "Sweet Tears", there was a country-side detective story "Flowers of the Province" and the story of love at war called "Without Angels". The prices are quite low - Br 13-15 thousand, no great demand has been noticed so far. As for the chances of another Belarusian contender, nominated by the PEN-center - Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu - Mikalaj Charhinets has a pessimistic view on this. Like, politics spoiled him as a writer. 

"I can tell you that Nyaklyaeu is a good poet but a bad politician. I feel sorry for him. They killed a good poet in him, getting him involved in all this political fuss".

Besides, the contender nominated by the Union of Belarusian Writers - Heorhi Marchuk - is a real dark horse. Even "Wikipedia" knows only one his work - the above-mentioned "Flowers of the Province". Thus, this year Belarus has three Nobel Prize nominees - Marchuk, Nyaklyaeu and human rights defender Ales Byalyatski. Besides, Marchuk does not comment on his nomination. He says that this would break the rules of the Nobel Committee.