Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 7 December (BelTA) – Young authors continue Belarusian and Russian literary traditions, Ivan Bambiza, Deputy State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Standing Committee, noted at the awards ceremony of the Union State contest of young authors “Bridge of Friendship” in Minsk, BelTA informs.

This is the third edition of the contest which is designed to unearth young talents inspired by the best literary traditions of Belarus and Russia, Ivan Bambiza said. Literature plays an essential role in our lives and reflects what is happening today, he added. The contest will safeguard spirituality and preserve traditional values as the basis of everything.

Ivan Bambiza added that it is harder to work with short forms as the author needs to portray a protagonist and construct a plot.

Over 150 works were submitted to the contest in 2016. The council of experts reviewed some 100 of them. The contest was organized by the Union State Standing Committee in cooperation with the association Conoscere Eurasia and Belarus’ National Press Center. The jury selected six winners from Belarus and six from Russia.

The winners from Belarus are Igor Avlasenko, Anastasia Bakunovich, Andrei Dichenko, Ivan Malinin, Olga Molodtsova, and Alyona Popko.

The winners from Russia are Artur Zhuravlev, Ivan Kuznetsov, Yegor Kulikov, Anton Lukin, Marta Raitses, and Sergei Chernov.