ULADZIMIR ARLOU Comments

In February 1990, when the idea of independent Belarus was in the air, it literally took Uladzimir Arlou an hour to write his famous essay “Independence Is...” Rereading it today, it is impossible to get rid of the feeling, that after 29 years (28 of which Belarus has been an independent country) the writer’s dream have not come true completely.

The Belarusan U. A. Arlou (b.1953) has built his publishing career in defiance of the Lukashenka regime, and has actively supported the democratic opposition. In 1997 he was dismissed from the state publisher Mastackaja litaratura " for publishing historical and another suspicious literature" ; later, in 2007, his works were removed from the national school curiculum.

In 2010, his work was recognised as he became the first European Poet of Freedom. Today Uladzimir Arlou is the most popular Belarusian writer covering historical topics.

Uładzimir Arłou (known as U. A. Arlou - and also known as Vladimir Aljakseevich Orlov) was born 25 August 1953 in Polotsk, Belarus (that time it was part of the 'Soviet Union') . He is a Belarusian historian, writer, politician, and poet.