Natalka Babina unveils modern-day Belarus in her novel “Down Among the Fishes”

Though Belarus was poorly represented in the Western part of the world until now, a talented journalist and writer manages to disclose the real state of things in Belarus in her work.

Today mostly associated with the personality of President Lukashenka, Belarus remains a terra incognita for the rest of the world. Babina’s surprisingly fresh portrait of today’s Belarus celebrates the country’s diverse demographics be it business, education, culture or just the way people go about their daily errands.

Natalka Babina created a novel to celebrate the unseen in the country where people had to learn to exist ‘backstage’. In the novel, the author writes about her homeland where, contrary to commonly spread stereotypes, people do enjoy a fulfilled life: they love, work, seek and find happiness, fight against injustice, laugh and cry. With access to Internet in huts under thatched roofs in rural areas and large businesses turning about huge capitals in major cities, controversial and dynamic Belarus is a melting pot of languages, cultures and religions; a country where people’s regional identity is deeply rooted in history that goes back to the Great Duchy of Lithuania.

Critics praised the novel’s unusual form that successfully integrates features of several genres – drama, romance, adventure, fantasy and suspense – and a variety of authentic portraits of today’s Belarusians.

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Natalka Babina was born on May 15, 1966 in Belarus, close to the border with Poland and Ukraine, and graduated from Belarusian Institute of Technology in Minsk. Babina worked at the editorial departments of two Belarusian newspapers. Since 1994, she published her works in the independent newspaper Nasha Niva. Since 2006, she became a journalist at the same venue, also collaborating with other presses in Belarus and Ukraine. Natalka Babina authored a collection of stories The Blood should not be seen and a novel The Town of Fish, both translated into Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and Czech. Natalka became the laureate of the Cherkasova prize of Belarusian association of journalists in 2010.

According to the information from the Office for a Democratic Belarus