It all started as a prison diary: a Belarusian activist who trolled Shunevich presented a book in Berlin

A Belarusian activist Vika Biran presented her debut book “I Dance” in the Belarusian language in Berlin.

The author says that the book is about border situations, the LGBTQ+ community and Belarus after 2020.

Book «I Dance». Photo from Vika Biran’s Facebook pages

Vika has noted that the beginning of the book is actually her prison diary that she kept while being in custody for participating in the women’s rally in September 2020: “Writing has been my way of living through events since long time ago. When I “write them out,” my head becomes free from all sorts of crap, and I can move on calmly. There was a pen and paper in the cell, and I wrote short notes.”

One day, the notes were found and seized during a shakedown. Then, they were read and discussed by the employees of ‘Akrestsina’ Detention Centre:

“So I realized that their goal was to take away as many freedoms as possible from me, including the freedom to think and write about what I consider important. After this shakedown, I began to take a more responsible approach to hiding my pieces of paper: I stuffed them into my underpants and socks. I held on to them closely, because I knew that even in prison a lot of events happen, and when I get out, I will forget all the little nuances, but I wanted to remember them, in order to use them as a starting point to move forward as always. And I wanted to record all the injustice that was around and which no one deserved.”

Vika notes that there is no need to explain anything in the book to Belarusian readers, since they participated in the described events themselves. She also hopes that foreign readers will not just get the latest “ordinary” update about the “women’s revolution”, the suffering of migrants on the Belarusian-Polish border and the allegedly funny Lukashenka, but also apprehend something else.

You can order the book “I Dance” on the websites of “Knihauka” and Allegro.

Source: nashaniva.com