SVETLANA ALEXIEVICH

I was always meant to study the humanities; I was no good at math or sciences. When it came time for me to work, it was Soviet times, and journalism wasn't that free or interesting of a space. There was a lot of censorship; it was difficult.

I used to live in a village, and I always loved listening to old people. Unfortunately, it was always women who were talking, because after the war, very few men were around. I spent my entire life living in the village. The village is always talking about itself; people are talking to each other as the village makes sense of itself.

I love to sit on my own and think, not to be photographed all the time.

People always speak beautifully when they are in love or close to death.

I believe that in the 21st century, we should arm ourselves with ideas.

I can't rid myself of the feeling that war is a product of the male nature.

Flaubert called himself a human pen; I would say that I am a human ear. When I walk down the street and catch words, phrases, and exclamations, I always think - how many novels disappear without a trace! Disappear into darkness.

I couldn't get published for three years. Then the times changed: glasnost, perestroika. So, for three years, I wasn't allowed to publish 'The Unwomanly Face of War,' but then it changed.

What you have to remember about Belarus is that it's a small state - it has a population of less than 10m people - and like many small states, it has to be very careful about its relationships.

Journalists do not write about human feelings.

Women tell things in more interesting ways. They live with more feeling. They observe themselves and their lives. Men are more impressed with action. For them, the sequence of events is more important.

Lukashenko is very much like Trump, because democracy and Trump are incompatible things.

We, people of socialism, are not like others. We have our peculiar ideas about heroes and martyrs.

From the point of view of art, the butcher and the victim are equal as people. You need to see the people.

I write my books at moments of shock. I meet people in extremis and their stories are highly emotionally charged.

Art is always kind of snooping and listening in.

I don't hate. I love the Russian people. I love the Belarusan people... I love Ukraine very much.

It's very important to listen when someone is speaking up. I always keep my ear to the ground.

I have collected the history of 'domestic,' 'indoor' socialism, bit by bit. The history of how it played out in the human soul. I am drawn to that small space called a human being... a single individual. In reality, that is where everything happens.

Every one of his characters has their own idea, their own thing they want to express. Dostoevsky just lets them do it.

In the post-Soviet era, instead of freedom, various stripes of autocratic-totalitarianism have flourished: Russian, Belarusian, Kazakh... We are finding our way out from under the debris of the 'Red Empire' slowly and tentatively.

Being in the public eye is easy for me because I come from a family of four generations of teachers, so I'm used to being around books and discussions. But to write, I very much need to be alone.

We thought we'd leave communism behind, and everything would turn out fine. But it turns out you can't leave this and become free, because these people don't understand what freedom is.

I've been searching for a genre that would be most adequate to my vision of the world to convey how my ear hears and my eyes see life. I tried this and that, and finally, I chose a genre where human voices speak for themselves. But I don't just record a dry history of events and facts; I'm writing a history of human feelings.

I love how humans talk.