BGAMLI launched a joint publishing project with the Writers’ Union of Kazakhstan

On August 20, 2024, a meeting was held at the Belarusian State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art (hereinafter referred to as BGAMLI) between the director of the archive-museum Elena Aleksandrovna Makarenko and the poetess, member of the Writers’ Union of Kazakhstan, deputy editor-in-chief of the republican literary and art magazine «Prostor» Lyubov Konstantinovna Shashkova. During the meeting, agreements were reached on publishing an anthology of Belarusian-Kazakh cooperation in literary and publishing activities.

L.K. Shashkova handed over the collections «Literature of Kazakhstan in Foreign Sources» and «Foreign Perception of Literature of Kazakhstan» to the archive for safekeeping, which will allow one to become more closely acquainted with the works of classics and modern authors of Kazakhstan.

Belarusian-Kazakh literary ties date back to the 1930s, with the creation of the Writers’ Unions of the Republics. In 1936, the first translations of the poems of Dzhambul, Ilyas Zhansugurov, Saken Seifullin, and the prose of Beimbet Mailin were published in Belarusian. The Great Patriotic War cemented these relations with blood ties. Zhumagali Sain, Dzhuban Muldagaliyev, Sagingali Seitov, Muzafar Alimbayev, Leonid Skalkovsky participated in the liberation of Belarus, in Operation Bagration, Adi Sharipov commanded a partisan detachment, which was reflected in his work and connected the peoples with fraternal ties. During the Great Patriotic War, the families of Yakub Kolos and Yanka Mavr were evacuated to Almaty. In the post-war period, translations of works by Jakub Kolas, Ryhor Baradulin, Maksim Tank and others were published.

The archival documents stored in the Belarusian State Museum of Literature and Art are evidence of the close friendship between the Belarusian and Kazakh peoples. The creation of a new collection of documents, essays and articles, which was decided at this meeting, will serve to further strengthen the friendly ties between the two countries.

1. E.A. Makarenko, L.K. Shashkova and T.V. Kekeleva during the meeting

2. E.A. Makarenko and L.K. Shashkova during the transfer of collections