Full List Announced for the 2025 Frantsishak Bahushevich Prize

The Belarusian PEN Centre has published the full list of works admitted by the jury of the Frantsishak Bahushevich Prize for 2025.

This year, dozens of submissions were received — ranging from books and research to podcasts, videos and multimedia projects. The prize brings together various formats aimed at reflecting on Belarusian history, culture and collective memory.

A total of 24 works that meet the competition criteria have been included in the full list and accepted for consideration by the jury.

Books:

1. “Last Witnesses of Hrodna” — Ruslan Kulevich (self-published, Poland, 2025);
2. “Belarusian Literature of the Transformation Period. Outlines of a Misty Landscape” — Syarhey Kavalyou (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Press, Lublin, 2025);
3. “Belarusian Calendar Encyclopedic Guide” — Uladzimir Khilmanovich (Knižny Vyraj, Białystok, 2025);
   “And They Sang Like This Before: Musical Folklore of Old Believers of North-Western Belarus” — Volha Baryshnikava (Skaryna Press, London, 2025);
4. “Circle of the Day” — Alyaksandra Turava (2025, anonymised submission);
5. “Blood Circulation” — Yuliya Tsimafeyeva (Januszkiewicz, Warsaw, 2025);
6. “At ‘Start’ and in ‘Tempo’: Foot-Throwing Game in the Orsha Region” — Artsyom Sizintsev (Skaryna Press, London, 2025);
7. “Hidden Heritage. Tales of Belarusian Women”, Vols. 1–2 — Tatsyana Haiduk (BYPROSVET/Magenta, Warsaw, 2025);
8. “Simply Out of Love. Reportage Portraits of Memory” — Hanna Kandratsyuk (Publishing House of the Centre for Belarusian Culture in Białystok, Białystok, 2025);
9. “The Fog That Envelops You” — Paulina Kot (novella from the book “Make It Before Darkness: Mystical Stories from Belarus”, Pflaumbaum, Vilnius, 2025);
10. “Cold Lands” — Alyaksandr Karnaukh (Gutenberg Publisher, Kraków, 2025);
11. “Shadows of Foundations” — Milestone (2025, anonymised submission);
12. “Carpenter of Life” — Syarhey Dubautsevich (2025, anonymised submission).

Articles, podcasts, video blogs and others:

1. “Belarus as a ‘Cultural Resemblance of Colonial Africa’, or the Anti-Colonial Uprising of Communist Alyaksey Kauka” — Tatsyana Astrouskaya (article in Topos magazine, Vilnius, 2025);
2. Podcast “History on Svaboda” — author and host Syarhey Ablameyka (2025);
3. Visual poetry “Belarusian Dudka and Belarusian Smyk” — author Antos Sivykh (2025);
4. Podcast “Cinema Belarus”, No. 7: Volha Ramanava and Another History of Belarusian Soviet Cinema — authors and hosts Taras Tarnalitski, Yuliya Alyakseyeva (2025);
5. Podcast “Literary Notes” — author and host Syarhey Dubavets (2025);
6. Podcast “Let’s Work”, Episode 1: A Psychological Session with Barbara Radziwiłł — author Yalina Yanouskaya (anonymised submission);
7. Television project “Sarmatian Moustache” — author and host Timofey Akudovich;
8. Video project “Smoking the Boar” — public cultural campaign “Budźma Belarusami!” and Ales Kirkievich (2025);
9. Video project “Trident and Pahonia” — public cultural campaign “Budźma Belarusami!” and Ales Kirkievich (2025);
10. Video blog about Belarusian cuisine “Pr0Food” — author and host Syarhey Mazan (2025);
11. Podcast “Tutaka” — foundation “TUTAKA” (2025).

The next stage will be the announcement of the longlist of the prize.

The Frantsishak Bahushevich Prize was established in 1996 and annually recognises the best works dedicated to the history and culture of Belarus that strengthen Belarusian traditions and restore a connection with the past.