Under the regime of Lukashenko, freedom of literary expression has become a distant ideal in Belarus. Writers are persecuted, imprisoned, or forced into exile.

Olga Bubich is a Belarusian essayist, journalist, and visual artist. Her work explores traumatic collective memories, language, and identity. Her recent photobook The Art of (Not) Forgetting (2021) examines the elusive nature of memory and how we navigate it. She currently lives in exile in Berlin and is a writer‑in‑residence at PEN Flanders.

Peter Vermeersch, professor of political studies and author, recently published Polsslag, a novel highlighting the role of music in the Belarusian resistance. Writer and PEN board member Guido Snel will moderate a conversation with them about the historical and contemporary context of Belarus, where the imprisonment of creative minds has been a recurring pattern throughout its history. Olga Bubich will also read an excerpt from her essay on the Belarusian language.

A constrained mother tongue is resilient in recalled memory. Those who no longer speak Belarusian tenderly piece together often painful cultural threads, processing trauma to keep their ‘mova’ alive. - The language that waited at the doorstep, Olga Bubich

friday 24.04.2026 - 20u
The event will be held in English.