Leben und Schreiben im (Berliner) Exil – Belarussische Spurensuchen zwischen Gegenwart und Vergangenheit

Reading and talk with Alhierd Bacharevič, Sveta Ben, Olga Bubich, Julia Cimafiejeva, Dmitri Strotsev, and Zmicier Vishniou
An evening with six authors from Belarus who are living in exile in Berlin due to repression by the Belarusian authoritarian regime
Moderation: Nina Weller and Tina Wünschmann
Interpreter: Tatsiana Kupreichyk

Like thousands of others, authors Alhierd Bacharevič, Sveta Ben, Olga Bubich, Julia Cimafiejeva, Dmitri Strotsev, and Zmicier Vishniou have left Belarus since the brutal suppression of the 2020 mass protests against Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime. They cannot return, as they would risk being detained. Berlin became the new center of their lives, albeit under a precarious residence status.

Alongside Vilnius and Warsaw, Berlin is one of the most important places of Belarusian exile. The Belarusian literary scene has already begun to take root and establish international networks from Berlin. But how do Belarusian authors live, read, and write in the Berlin of the 2020s? How do these authors perceive their everyday life in their Berlin neighborhoods—in Charlottenburg, Hohenschönhausen, Mitte, Neukölln, Wedding, and other parts of the city? How do they speak and think about literature in their current “in-between” existence? Are there literary role models who shape their view of Berlin as a place of transit and refuge? And what traces of past Belarusian exile stories can be found?

In six readings and discussions, the event will bridge the pasts and presents of the Berlin exile.

The event is funded by the Leibniz Research Alliance Value of the Past.

Alhierd Bacharevič (*1975) – writer. Author of numerous novels, essay collections, and a volume of poetry. Most recently, the novels Das letzte Buch von Herrn A. (2023, T: Alhierd Bacharevič, Andreas Rostek) and Europas Hunde (2024, T: Thomas Weiler) were translated into German. He received the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding 2025 for Europas Hunde. Bacharevič left Belarus at the end of 2020. After living in Graz, Chemnitz, Zug, and Hamburg, he has been living in Berlin since January 2025.

Sveta Ben (*1975) – poet, singer (of the bands Serebrianaja Svad’ba/Silver Wedding and Mikrokabaret), actress, puppet theater director. Her most recent poetry collections Iz jamki zemljanoj (From the Pit) und Bezrabotnoe derevo (The Unemployed Tree) were published in 2024 and 2025, along with other poems as part of the anthology Minskaja Škola (Minsk School) (2025). As part of the project Weiter Schreiben, her essay Die kantige Sprache des Gartens (2024, T: Tina Wünschmann) was translated into German. Ben left Belarus in 2022 and has been living in Berlin since then.

Olga Bubich (*1980) – essayist, visual artist, lecturer, and memory studies scholar. Author of many journalistic and essayist texts on cultural, social, and political and the culture of remembrance. Her photo book The Art of (not) Forgetting was published in 2021. Recent publications include the essays Touching Memories in the Choir of Speaking Voids (2023), Allzu perfekte Opfer (2025, T: Steffen Vogel), and Memory for Sale (2025). Bubich left Belarus in the summer of 2021 and has been living in Berlin since December 2022 (as an ICORN fellow until 2024).

Julia Cimafiejeva (*1982) – author, poet, translator. Author of five poetry collections and the documentary book Minsk. Diary (2020). Her most recent poetry collection Krovazvarot (Blood Circulation) was published in May 2025 in Warsaw. Most recently translated into German: Der Angststein. Gedichte (2022, T: Tina Wünschmann and others) and Minsk. Die Stadt, die ich vermisse. Fotografie Gedichte (2022). Cimafiejeva left Belarus in November 2020 and has since been living in exile in different European cities. Since January 2025, she is a DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program fellow.

Dmitri Strotsev (*1963) – poet and publisher. Author of sixteen poetry collections, head of the literary and publishing project Novyje Mechi (New Pelts), editor of the almanac and the poetry series Minskaja Škola (Minsk School). He is the founder and head of the Berlin-based publisher hochroth Minsk. The essays Minsker Schule: Innere Übersetzung und Mission (2022, T: Ruth Altenhofer), Das Bienenhaus. Gedichte (2023, T: Andreas Weihe), and Poetische Reportage (2025, T: Andreas Weihe) have been translated into German. Strotsev left Belarus in August 2021 and has been living in Berlin since August 2023.

Zmicier Vishniou (*1973) – author, poet, artist, publisher (of the former publisher Halijafy). Author of many different poetry and prose collections. His novel Das Brennesselhaus (2010, T: Martina Jakobson) and his essays Der Körper des poetisch-politischen Emigranten (2023) and Das Wort im Rucksack (2024, T: Nina Weller) were translated into German. His most recent poetry collection Ununtergeordnetes and his novel Ich bin das Fleisch, das Zmicier zubereitet hat (2025) will soon be published in German. Vishinou left Belarus in 2022 and has since been living in Berlin.