ICORN Residency

Lawon Barszczeuski (born 1958 in Polotsk) – a Belarusian writer, philologist, translator, poet and politician.He studied philological sciences at the Institute of Teaching in Mińsk.From 1991, he was Vice-Director for Science and Methodology of the Belarusian Education & Cultural Centre of Human Sciences at the Ministry of Education of the National Belarusian Republic (since 2003, after its official dissolution by the Belarusian government, this institute has functioned illegally as the Belarusian Secondary School of Human Sciences). In 1991, after the declaration of Belarus’ independence, he began his political activity.In the years 1990-1995, he was a member of the 12th term of the Supreme Council of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic/Council of the National Belarusian Republic. He was the leader of many parliamentary working groups devoted to the educational system and national minority issues. In 1995, Barshcheusky took part in protests against laws of President Alexander Lukashenka. Because of this participation, he was excluded from the Parliament in the years 1996-99. In the years 2007-2009, he was again the chairman of the opposition party Belarusian People’s Front. In spite of political discrimination, he was still politically active and promoted the Belarusian issue abroad. Since 2012, he has been a columnist of Narodnaja Wola – the only oppositional daily newspaper in Belarus. He has translated works from Latin, ancient Greek, German, English, French, Polish (including works by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Berthold Brecht, Franz Kafka, Stanisław Wyspiański, Bruno Schulz, Czesław Miłosz, Sławomir Mrożek). In the years 2003-2005, he was the chairman of the Belarusian PEN Club. He is the author of four books and a co-author of fifteen works; he has written prefaces to several editions and has translated literary works and historical dissertations of over forty authors into Belarusian. He has been the editor of fifteen editions.In total, he signed a few hundred publications with his name. His scientific achievements include works on the methodology of language and literature, linguistics and literary studies.