Articles
Independent Belarus. 1991–2025
Our present. This category includes books by those who speak about the Belarusian language, memory, dignity, and political or moral alternatives. These are the voices shaping Belarusian narratives over recent decades, now under attack.
Soviet period. 1917–1991
Two awards of PEN Belarus are named in honour of these “banned” writers: The Natalla Arsieńnieva Poetry Prize [Go to Natalla Arsieńnieva Poetry Prize landing page] [Read about Natalla Arsieńnieva] The Francišak Alachnovič Prize for Literature Written in Prison [Go to Francišak Alachnovič Prize] Voices of books Below are selected voices of banned books (an
Russian Empire. The 1800s – Roots of prohibition
The material is dedicated to the roots of Belarusian literature, written in the people’s language and feared by the empire. Today’s regime continues to ban them, still afraid of the very idea of Belarusian identity.
Breath of freedom. The “wrong” foreigners
This section compiles examples of banned books by international writers, from essays on democracy to novels about human dignity, love, and choice.
The pain of banned books
Material as of 11 August 2025 Between July and August 2025, 34 new titles were added to the “National List of Extremist Materials”. Among them was Gene Sharp’s essay From Dictatorship to Democracy – a text that has served as a roadmap for peaceful change across the world yet is deemed unacceptable in today’s Belarus.