Belarusian Poet Julia Cimafiejeva Wins Prestigious German Hilde-Domin Prize for Literature in Exile
Reform.news Editorial Team · 21 October 2026, 16:35
https://reform.news/en/belarusian-poet-julia-cimafiejeva-wins-prestigious-german-hilde-domin-prize-for-literature-in-exile/Yesterday, October 20, a ceremony was held at Heidelberg City Hall in Germany to present the Hilde-Domin-Preis für Literatur im Exil 2026 (Hilde-Domin Prize for Literature in Exile). The award went to Belarusian poet, writer and translator Julia Cimafiejeva. The prize was presented to her by Heidelberg’s Head of Cultural Affairs, Dr Andrea Edel.
The Hilde-Domin Prize is awarded every three years to writers living in exile in Germany or addressing this theme in their work.
Why Did the Jury Honour Julia Cimafiejeva?
In its citation, the jury singled out Cimafiejeva’s poetry collection *Blood Circulation*, published by edition.fotoTAPETA in 2025:
“The Belarusian poet and translator Julia Cimafiejeva transforms her own experience and life in exile into an impetus for brilliant artistic reflection. Through a finely crafted fabric of images, she reflects on memories of home, flight, foreignness and the search for a new refuge. The author returns to dramatic chapters of the bloody 20th century — from the dark shadow of Chernobyl to Nazi labour camps where her relatives were imprisoned…”
The laudation was delivered by poet and essayist Uljana Wolf, who called Cimafiejeva an “archivist and artist of memory”. She highlighted the poet’s keen powers of observation, her avoidance of sentimentality and her refined irony as she searches for a language to construct an “emigrant’s toolkit”.
Julia Cimafiejeva was born in 1982 in Brahin. She is the author of five poetry collections in Belarusian. Her books have been translated into German, Dutch, Polish and Swedish, and published in the United States. Her books “Zirkus” (2019), “Minsk. Tagebuch” (2021), “Der Angststein” (2022) and “Blutkreislauf” (2025, translated by Tina Wünschmann) have been published by the German publisher edition.fotoTAPETA. In 2025, her collection of collages and poems “Ich zerschneide die Geschichte” was also released.
In 2020, Cimafiejeva and her husband, writer Alhierd Bacharevič, were forced to leave Belarus for political reasons. After living in Graz, Chemnitz, Zug and Hamburg, the couple have been based in Berlin since 2025.
About the Prize
The Literature in Exile Prize was established by the city of Heidelberg in 1992 to mark the 80th birthday of renowned poet Hilde Domin, who became its first recipient. After her death in 2006, the award was named in her honour. It is one of Germany’s most significant literary prizes, supporting the voices of writers living in exile. Previous recipients have included Bachtyar Ali, Natascha Wodin, Edgar Hilsenrath, Abbas Khider and other writers.