Ivan Antonovich "Janka" Bryl ( be, Янка Брыль; 4 August 1917 – 25 July 2006) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

ian writer best known for his short stories. He was one of the older generation of Soviet writers who had begun their literary careers in

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's time, but received a new lease on life in the late 1950s, along with such contemporaries as

Ivan Shamiakin Ivan Shamiakin ( be, Іван Шамякін, 30 January 1921 – 14 October 2004) was a Soviet Belarusian writer, perhaps one of the most prolific of the Soviet BSSR, writing in a socialist realist style. He was born in 1921 in the village o ...

and

Ivan Melezh Ivan Melezh (Belarusian: Іван Паўлавіч Мележ; 8 February 1921, Hlinischy, Homiel Voblast — 9 August 1976, Minsk) was a Belarusian writer of fiction and drama. Biography He was born to a peasant family. In 1939, he entered th ...

Biography

Bryl's father, Anton Danilovich Bryl, was a railway worker. In 1922, his family returned to their hometown of Zagorje (then in Poland). He was unable to complete his education, due to financial difficulties. In 1939, he was drafted into the Polish Army and was assigned to their equivalent of the Marine Corps. Although he was captured by the Germans at

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...

, he was able to escape and returned to Belarus, where he joined the partisans and served several groups in different capacities. He began his writing career in

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

as an editor for a partisan newspaper, ''The Banner of Freedom'' and contributed pieces to a satirical journal called the ''Guerrilla Gigolo''. Later, he authored various anti-Nazi leaflets for the newspaper '' (Crush the Fascist Vermin). In October 1944, he moved to

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

where he worked on several newspapers and magazines, as well as in the State Publishing House and became Secretary of the local writers' union. From 1945, he was a member of the

Union of Soviet Writers The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers (russian: Союз писателей СССР, translit=Soyuz Sovetstikh Pisatelei) was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded ...

. He was also elected to the

Supreme Soviet of Belarus The Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus, sometimes translated as Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Вярхоўны Савет Рэспублікі Беларусь), was the unicameral legislature of Belarus between 1991 an ...

, serving two terms: 1963-1967 and 1980–1985. From 1989 until his death, he was a member of the Belarusian

PEN Center PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

. In addition, He was awarded the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize * The Stalin Peace Prize, awarded 1949 to 1955, later known as the Lenin Peace Prize The Int ...

in 1952 and the Jakub Kolas Literature Prize in 1963. In 1981, he was awarded the honorific title of People's Writer of the Byelorussian SSR and in 1994 he was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences of Belarus The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) ( be, Нацыянальная акадэмія навук Беларусі, russian: Национальная академия наук Беларуси, НАН Беларуси, НАНБ) is ...

. Bryl's first story appeared in 1938 and his first short story collection appeared in 1946. The first collection of stories was called ''Apaviadanni'' (Stories). Bryl's books are mostly works of psychological fiction and his characters tend to be sensitive and prone to introspection. They were largely set in Belarusian villages and frequently about the people's fight against the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

References

1917 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Belarusian writers 20th-century translators Writers from Odesa Stalin Prize winners People's Writers of the Byelorussian SSR Recipients of the Byelorussian SSR State Prize Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Polish September Campaign participants Socialist realism writers Belarusian male short story writers Belarusian partisans Belarusian translators Soviet children's writers Soviet partisans Soviet short story writers Soviet translators {{Belarus-writer-stub