Documentary and book exhibition «The Magician from the Land of Childhood»

On May 10, 2023, the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus, together with the National Library of Belarus, opened a documentary and book exhibition «The Magician from the Land of Childhood».

This year marks 140 years since the birth of Yanka Mavr (1883-1971) – a famous writer, translator, one of the founders of Belarusian literature for children and youth. His works continue to win the hearts of modern boys and girls today. They beckon with the romance of adventure and travel, the sincerity and truthfulness of the story, the colorful description of the nature of exotic countries and native Palesia.

The exhibition features about 100 documents. An enlightener, a romantic, a conjurer, a thinker, a humanist, a traveler, a seeker, a person with a winged imagination – such facets of the creative portrait of Yanka Mauro are revealed in the exposition through book publications, magazine publications, encyclopedic and popular science publications, as well as illustrative material from the National Library collection Belarus.

The exposition begins with the section “Teacher. Wanderer. Dreamer”. The central place in it is given to the only autobiographical work of Yanka Mavr – the story “The Way out of Darkness” (1920-1957), on which he worked for almost three decades and tried to tell about the ups and downs of his life.

A very important page in the writer’s biography is life in evacuation during the Great Patriotic War. The harsh time is revealed on the pages of the writer’s diary and letters to literary friends. The exhibition presents a magazine publication by A. Lysenko – “Yanka Mavr:” It seems to me that we will all be different … “. After returning to the liberated Minsk, the war enters the writer’s stories with piercing pain. Janka Mavr was one of the initiators of creating a book of memoirs of children who survived the war. Book «Ніколі не забудзем», edited by Yanka Mavr, was published in 1948 and was highly appreciated by the public not only in Belarus, but also abroad. The development of documentary literature about the Great Patriotic War begins with this book.

A significant part of the exposition is devoted to the creative heritage of Yanka Mavra. At the exhibition you can see the main editions of his works – stories, novels, short stories: «Чалавек ідзе» (1927), «Сын вады: Аповесць з жыцця на вогненнай зямлі» (1928), «У краіне райскай птушкі» (1928), «Амок»: Раман (1930), «Пекла» (1929), «Палескія Рабінзоны» (1930), «Слёзы Тубі»: Апавяданні. (1930), «Аповесць будучых дзён» (1932), «ТВТ» (1934), «Вакол свету» (Зборнік твораў, 1947), «Цётка Эмілія» (1954). Translations into Belarusian of individual works by D. Momin-Sibirak, M. Prishvin, G. K. Andersen, M. Twain and others. Translations of works by Yanka Mavr into Russian, Kazakh and other languages are presented.

Authentic documents from the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus testify to the awarding and perpetuation of the memory of Yanka Mavr. These are the Decrees of the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers of the BSSR on conferring the title of Honored Worker of Culture of the BSSR (1968), Laureate of the State Prize of the BSSR (1972, posthumously), etc.

Each chapter is illustrated with materials from the writer’s family archive. Among the exhibits of the exhibition are memorabilia of J. Mora – a writing set, chess pieces, a tie, a collection of stamps from letters and postcards of Esperantists from all over the world. Digital copies of important documents, autographs, photographs, which give a more complete picture of the writer’s personality, complement and enrich the visual material.

The navigator of the exposition is the words-memoirs of Ivan Fedorovich’s relatives and friends, revealing different aspects of his character, individual life situations and interesting events. Each reader and visitor of the library has the opportunity to feel the “aura of the Moor” and devote his vacation to getting acquainted with the kind, sincere and truthful book of the magician and traveler Yanka Mavr.

The exhibition runs from May 10 to December 31, 2023 in the ring gallery on the 3rd floor.