Kryścina Banduryna – Самае трывожнае лета (The Most Anxious summer)
Illustration: Polyhtony
hochroth Minsk
Berlin, 2023
ISBN 978-3-949850-18-9
Language: Belarusian
“The Most Anxious Summer” is a collection of poems that are extraordinary in their emotional impact. It consists of 13 poetic statements, which represent both a sincere diary, and a document of the violent times. There is even an appeal to those times, but without any reverence for the “agenda”. It is worth noting the first work written before August 2020, as well as lyrical confessions about each of those months that had to follow it.
On the pages of this book, the reader meets the mentions of a specific time together with the “corporeality” of the images (Kryścina Banduryna’s recognizable feature). The words convey an almost physical feeling of the ribs wounded by the police boots, or of the blood on the palms of the hands. There is an intonation of sadness and despair, reflected by the illustrations by Polyhtony hochroth Minsk. All this creates an artistic world full of anxiety. There is no pathos or exaltation. Instead, there is a sober awareness that no one will change and nothing has an immortal meaning. Except for one thing – love.
Kryścina Banduryna was born in 1992 in Mazyr. Philologist, poet, editor of poetry. Graduate of the School of Young Writers at the Union of Belarusian Writers (2015), and the School of Young Writers “W/Rights” (2020). In 2017–2018, she worked as an editor of the poetry department of the magazine “Маладосць”. Editor of “The Anthology of the Belarusian vers libre”, the collections of poems “Вада пачынае жыць” (“The Water begins to live”) by Artur Kamaroŭski, “Свистящий алфавит” (“The Whistling Alphabet”) by Volha Markitantava, “Побач” (“Nearby”) by Nasta Kudasava. Editor of the online magazine of the contemporary Belarusian poetry, “Taubin”. The poems have been translated into Russian, Ukrainian, English, Swedish, German, Lithuanian, Czech, Polish and Danish. Winner of the “Golden Apostrophe” award of the “Дзеяслоў” magazine in the “Debut” category (2016). Author of the collections of poetry “Homo” (2019), “Псалмы и сонники” (“Psalms and dream books”, translations into Russian, 2021). Lives in Minsk.