«Singer of Native Polesia» – on the 105th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Pavlovich Melezh, prose writer, playwright, publicist, and People’s Writer of the Byelorussian SSR

Published: February 06, 2026

January 8, 2026, marks the 105th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Pavlovich Melezh, prose writer, playwright, publicist, and People’s Writer of the Byelorussian SSR.

I.P.Melezh began his creative career with poetry. His first poem, «Radzime», was published in 1939.

As for prose, I.P.Melezh wrote his first short stories while undergoing treatment in a Tbilisi hospital. In 1945, the story «Sustrecha ў shpіtalі» (Meeting in the Woods) was published in the newspaper «Zvyazda». In 1946, his first collection of stories, «U zavіrukhu» (In the Wind), was published. In 1948, his second collection of prose, «Harvest Garaches», was published. His first novel, «Minsk Napramak», was published in 1952.

The central part of I.P.Melezh’s work is the trilogy «Polesia Chronicle» (novels «People on the Marsh», «Navalny’s Breath», and «Curtains, Snow..».), set in the writer’s native land. It describes life in a Polesia village in the 1920s and 1930s: the difficulties of the transition to socialism, collectivization, and dispossession.

A promotional video for the exhibition «Singer of Native Polesia» has been posted on the BGAKFFD YouTube channel to commemorate the 105th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Pavlovich Melezh, prose writer, playwright, publicist, and People’s Writer of the BSSR.

Currently, the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents holds approximately 100 photographic documents from 1938 to 1996, 11 film documents (including seven film documents shot during the writer’s lifetime, from 1948 to 1976), and 17 sound documents from 1966 and 1976 related to the writer’s life and work.

The photographs capture I.P.Melezh with family members, as well as while working on his works, meeting with readers, and participating in writers’ congresses. This is also evidenced by film documents – stories from the «Savetskaya Belarus» newsreels. The documentaries «Ivan Melezh» (directed by Yu.Lysyatov, 1977) and «Ivan Melezh. Fog over the Bagnai» (directed by A.Anisimov, 2009) were made about the life and work of I.P.Melezh.

The archive’s sound library contains recordings of I.P.Melezh’s speeches at writers’ congresses, as well as a recording of a speech by People’s Writer of the BSSR I.P.Melezh about his work on the trilogy «Paleskaya Chronicle» and the radio program «Shlyakh da pryznannya. Tvorchy partret pіsmennіka Ivana Melezh». The latter presents the writer’s recollections of his childhood and early creative career.

Plays and feature films based on I.P.Melezh’s works have been staged. In 1980, the Writers’ Union of the BSSR established the Ivan Melezh Literary Prize.

1. 0-090783 Deputy political instructor of the artillery regiment I.P.Melezh with a friend
/1941– January 1943/. Photo library of the Minsk television studio

2. 0-090758 Ivan Pavlovich Melezh (1st from left) with his family (2nd from left – the writer’s mother Maria Denisovna Melezh, 1st from right – the writer’s father Pavel Fedorovich Melezh, 2nd from right – the writer’s brother Rostislav Pavlovich Melezh) in the village of Glinishche, Rechitsa district
1945, Gomel region, Photo library of the Minsk television studio

3. 0-124879 Belarusian writer I.P.Melezh in the meeting hall of the II Congress of Writers of the BSSR
1949, Minsk. TsGAKFFD BSSR

4. 0-120936 A group of Belarusian writers, including M.T.Lynkov, N.G.Tkachev, I.P.Shamyakin, I.P.Melezh and others during the Decade of Belarusian Art and Literature in Moscow
1955. Moscow, TsGAKFFD BSSR

5. 0-021378 Belarusian writer I.P.Melezh gives autographs to readers at an evening in the Vitebsk Regional Theater dedicated to the Decade of Book Friends
December 24, 1959, Vitebsk. BelTA Photo Chronicle, V.German

6. 0-067112 Speech by the Chairman of the Belarusian Branch of the France-USSR Society, writer I.P.Melezh at the Belarusian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (BelOKS)
February 25, 1965, Minsk. BelOKS, D.Press

7. 0-085537 Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Marshal V.I.Chuikov talks with Belarusian writers I.P.Shamyakin (left) and I.P.Melezh (center)
February 27, 1970, Minsk. Photo library of the editorial staff of the newspaper «Litaratura i Mastatstva»

8. 1-012828 Belarusian writer I.P.Melezh with his daughter
January 1971, Minsk. Photo library BelOKS, E.Trigubovich

9. 1-012829 Belarusian writer I.P.Melezh at home
January 1971, Minsk. Photo library BelOKS, E.Trigubovich

10. 1-012827 Belarusian writer I.P.Melezh at work
January 1971, Minsk. BelOKS Photo Library, E.Trigubovich

11. 1-012830 Chairman of the Belarusian Republican Peace Committee, writer I.P.Melezh (left) presents a commemorative medal and diploma of the Soviet Peace Fund to Vice-Rector of the Belarusian State University named after V.I.Lenin A.Ya.Malyshev for the university’s active participation in raising funds to help the Peace Fund.
January 1971, Minsk. BelOKS Photo Library, E.Trigubovich

12. 0-093026 Belarusian writer Ales Osipenko (Alexander Kharitonovich Osipenko) congratulates writer, Chairman of the Belarusian Peace Committee I.P.Melezh (right) on being awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and his 50th birthday at a gala evening in the House of Arts Workers.
February 8, 1971, Minsk. Photo library of the editorial staff of the newspaper «Litaratura i mastatstva», V.Kryuk

13. 0-090737 People’s Writer of the BSSR, Lenin Prize laureate I.P.Melezh at a seminar of creative intelligentsia in the city of Dokshitsy, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR
1972, Vitebsk region. Photo Library of the Minsk Television Studio

14. 0-094187 Deputy Chairman of the Council for Belarusian Literature of the USSR Writers’ Union N.E.Pashkevich (1st from left), Ales Adamovich (2nd from left), Deputy Chairman of the Board of the BSSR Writers’ Union I.P.Melezh (2nd from right), Chairman of the Council for Belarusian Literature of the USSR Writers’ Union A.I.Ovcharenko (1st from right) during a break between meetings of the plenum of the board of the BSSR Writers’ Union
February 16, 1972, Minsk. Photo Library of the editorial staff of the newspaper «Litaratury i mastatstva», V. Kruk

15. 0-094770 I.P.Melezh, People’s Writer of the BSSR /portrait/
1973, Minsk. Photo Library of the editorial staff of the newspaper «Minskaya Prauda»