Birthday of the classic of Belarusian literature Yanka Kupala

On 7 July 2023, in the House of Friendship of the Leningrad Region, together with the Leningrad Regional Universal Scientific Library, a meeting of the literary and musical lounge dedicated to the birthday of the poet and translator, playwright, publicist of the classic of Belarusian literature Yanka Kupala was held in a mixed online-offline format.

The meeting was attended by representatives of national cultural public organizations, including the Fund for the Promotion of Russian-Belarusian Cooperation “White Roses”, the Lithuanian ethnoculture club “Viturelis”, the Tatar cultural society “Faida”, representatives of the literary community, poets, writers, as well as employees of the district libraries of the Leningrad region from Gatchina, Lomonosov, Kirishsky, Volosovsky, Volkhovsky, Slantsevsky, Priozersky, Tosnensky, Kingisepp, Kirovsky municipal districts and Sosnovoborsky urban district. The moderator was Dmitry Rodyshevtsev, Head of the Department of Interethnic and Interfaith Relations of the House of Friends

hip of the Leningrad Region. The participants were welcomed by the acting head of the House of Friendship Sergey Novozhilov.

“This year will mark the 100th anniversary of the library system of the Leningrad region. Within the framework of the anniversary, a meeting of employees of the library community of the Leningrad Region and the Republic of Belarus is planned. We are looking forward to our colleagues to visit us, where, as they say, we will be able to talk live, share experiences, exchange new ideas on joint cooperation for the benefit of our peoples,” Irina Semenova, Director of the Leningrad Regional Universal Scientific Library, said in her speech.

Participants from Belarus joined the conversation in an online format: The Yanka Kupala Central Library of Minsk, the Centralized system of the state public Libraries of the city of Mogilev.

“Yanka Kupala is an iconic figure not only of Belarusian literature and culture. This is one of those figures who demonstrate the strong indissoluble connection of our literatures and cultures, our creative ties between Russia and Belarus,” said Natalia Vashchilo, Director of the Pushkin Minsk Regional Library.

“Our readers begin to get acquainted with the work and life of Yanka Kupala as soon as they cross the threshold of our library. The Kupala theme is represented in its interior interiors, where the walls are painted with frescoes based on his works, there is a monument to the poet. Since 2016, the Minsk City Poetry Theater has been operating on the basis of the library – this is a joint project with the Minsk Union of Writers of Belarus. A number of projects, including virtual ones, were specially designed for the anniversary year of the poet. For example, “Kupala Places of Minsk”, – Elena Matveeva, director of the State Institution “Centralized System of State Public Libraries of Minsk” summed up some of the results of the last anniversary year of Yanka Kupala in Belarus.

The only Memorial Museum in Russia, the apartment of the national poet of Belarus, operates in the village of Pechishchi of the Republic of Tatarstan. “During the Great Patriotic War, Yanka Kupala was in Leningrad and he, along with other poets and writers, members of the Leningrad branch of the Writers’ Union, was evacuated to Tatarstan, and he ended up in our village of Pechishchi. He lived and worked here in 1941,” said Irina Abyzova, head of the museum. She conducted a virtual tour of the museum, which was opened in 1975, and noted that today they have already held a ceremony of laying flowers to the bust of the poet.

At the meeting of the literary and musical lounge, Yanka Kupala’s works in Russian and Belarusian and songs written on his poems were performed. The reports were made by poet, novelist, Vice-President of the Petrovsky Academy Andrey Antonov, head of the Fund for the Promotion of Russian-Belarusian Cooperation “White Roses” Irina Rogova. The Tatar duet “Rose Flower” from the village of Pechishchi performed the song in Belarusian.