The National Library held an event dedicated to the 115th anniversary of Jan Skrygan (1905–1992), a Belarusian writer, and member of a literary association “Maladnyak” on November 12.
The event has been organized as part of the joint project “On the Wave of Time, Throughout the Life”, realized by the National Library of Belarus, the State Museum of History of Belarusian Literature, “Zviazda” publishing house (in particular, “Maladosts” journal) and the Belarusian State Archives–Museum of Literature and Art to the 100th anniversary of "Maladnyak" literary association. A virtual section dedicated to the writer's anniversary was prepared by the joint efforts of the project participants, within the framework of the project "On the Wave of Time, Throughout the Life" on the portal of the National Library of Belarus.
Mr Alies Susha, Deputy Director General – Director of Research and Publishing Activities of the National Library of Belarus, delivered a welcoming speech at the evening. He told about the large-scale joint project, its activities, various forms of popularization of the virtual project "On the Wave of Time, Throughout the Life." These are different events, open lectures, roundtables and other initiatives. For example, holding an online reader's contest "Oh, Belarus, My Sweet Briar" for the 120th anniversary of V. Dubouka, which is gaining popularity and has become international today. As part of the project, preparations were also held for the anniversary of the outstanding Belarusian writer Jan Skrygan, who will always be remembered for his work, life and sincere service to the Motherland.
Ms Tatiana Lavrik, Head of the Information and Analytic Activity Department, presented a new virtual section dedicated to the 115th anniversary of Jan Skrygan. She introduced the resource to the guests. It contains the full texts of the author's books, valuable documents, photographs and archival materials from the collections of the National Library of Belarus, the project partners, as well as from the home archive of Jan Skrygan himself. In conclusion, she spoke about the historical and regional museum "Batskawshchyna" (Head of the institution I. Tagil; rural settlement Kamen of the Kopyl district), where an exhibition dedicated to our fellow citizen, the famous writer of the Kopyl district, is presented. Visitors were shown a presentation sent by the museum, where you could see valuable documents and things of the writer kept in his small homeland.
An invaluable contribution to the creation of the warm atmosphere of the evening was made by the speech of Ms Galina Skrygan, the writer's daughter, who talked about her father, the preservation of the family's heritage and the veneration of the memory of Jan Skrygan. At the event, she spoke about the books dedicated to Jan Skrygan, which she wrote. She also presented a new edition - an illustrated album "Photo Records from Domestic Archives of Jan Skrygan" (2020), which was donated to the Library.
A video with a musical composition was shown at the literary evening - it was a dedication from Jan Skrygan Jr., grandson of the writer, a famous classical guitar artist who now lives near Freiburg (Germany). This symbolic performance was a reflection of the intergenerational connection.
The performance of Kastus Zvirka, editor-in-chief of "Knigazbor" publishing house, the author of the project "Belarusian Library" who prepared a one-volume of Skrygan's selected works in this series, also contributed to the good mood of the event. He told the participants about the publication of the books "I'm Glad I Knew Them," "Bitter Distances of the Heart" and others, which became an excellent example of the writer's veneration. In his speech, he recalled his first acquaintance with the family of Jan Skrygan, his joint work with Ms Galina Skrygan on the preparation of these books.
The literary evening ended with a speech by Jawgen Zhuk, Head of the Department of Digitization of Documents, who had known the family of Jan Skrygan since childhood.
At the end of the evening, the guests were invited to an exhibition dedicated to the writer's anniversary.
Information and Analytic Activity Department.
