Belarus recognizes book with Brodsky’s children’s ballad as extremist

An illustrated book with a translation into Belarusian of a ballad for children by Joseph Brodsky published by Yanushkevich has been recognized as extremist material in Belarus. According to the publisher himself, this happened because in the illustrations the tugboat is painted white and red (the white-red-white flag is used by the Belarusian opposition).

A book with Brodsky’s ballad has appeared in the updated register of extremist materials in Belarus. The decision to block was made by the court of the Central District of Minsk. A book with a ballad translated by Alesya Aleinik came out in 2022.

As told to the portal “Our Niva” publisher Andrei Yanushkevich, employees of the main department for combating organized crime and corruption came to the store of his publishing house “Knigaўka” (“Chibis”) and began to confiscate books. Employees of the GUBOP, among other things, took away a children’s book with a ballad. According to the publisher, one of them called suspicious the white and red coloring of the tug in children’s illustrations.

The ballad tells the story of a tug called “Antey”. The ship carries foreign tourists, but cannot follow them to other countries, as it “must stay there”, “where others need it”. The ballad was written in 1962. This is the first published poem by Joseph Brodsky. It was published in the children’s magazine “Bonfire”. In the same year, 22-year-old Brodsky was detained by the KGB.

Anastasia Larina