The National Library of Belarus has released a merchandise collection to mark its 20th anniversary. The collection was highlighted on Threads by user ilivehereggg. In the comments under the post, users criticized tote bags featuring Belarusian literary classics whose names and even pen names were written in Russian: Yanka Kupala, Francysk Skaryna, Maksim Bahdanovich.
Moreover, the pen name of the People’s Poet of Belarus was rendered as Yakub Kolos instead of Yakub Kolas.
Commenters expressed outrage over the design, arguing that it would have been more logical to write the names of Belarusian literary classics in the Belarusian language.
There were also questions about the image of Yakub Kolas, which many felt bore little resemblance to the writer.
“Why not Ivan Kupalo?” commenters asked regarding the tote bag featuring another literary classic.
Incidentally, this is not an isolated case. In May, the website of the Yakub Kolas Central Scientific Library published an article about Vasil Vitka in which the writer’s pen name was translated as “Vasiliy Vitka,” even though names in pen names are never translated. Even on the covers of Russian-language translations, the author is identified as “Vasil Vitka.”
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