The Wizard from the Land of Childhood

The book and illustrative exhibition "The Wizard from the Land of Childhood", dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the birth of Yanka Maur, runs from May 10, 2023 to March 15, 2024 in the ring gallery (the 3rd floor).

This year marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of Yanka Maur (1883–1971), a famous writer, translator, one of the founders of Belarusian literature for children and youth. His works continue to captivate the hearts of modern children today. They attract with the romance of adventure and travel, sincerity and truthfulness of the narrative, colourful description of the nature of exotic countries and native Polesie.

About 100 documents are presented at the exhibition. A teacher, a romantic, a wizard, a thinker, a humanist, a traveller, a seeker, a man with a winged imagination – these facets of the creative portrait of the Yankee Moor are revealed in the exhibition thanks to book publications, magazine publications, encyclopedic and popular science publications, as well as illustrative material from the National Library of Belarus.

The exhibition begins with the section "Teacher. Traveller. Dreamer". The central place in it is given to the only autobiographical work of the Yanka Maur – the story "Shlyakh z Tsemry" (1920–1957), he worked on it for almost three decades and tried to tell about the vicissitudes of his life.

A very important page in the biography of the Yanka Maur is his life in evacuation during the Great Patriotic War. The pages of the writer's diary and letters to literary friends reflect the harsh time. The exhibition presents A. Lysenko's magazine publication "Yanka Maur: "It seems to me that we will all be different ..."" After returning to liberated Minsk, the war entered the writer's stories with piercing pain. He became one of the initiators of the creation of a book of memoirs of children who survived the war. The book "Nikoli ne zabudzem" edited by Yanka Maur was published in 1948. It was highly appreciated by the public not only in Belarus, but also abroad. The development of documentary literature about the Great Patriotic War started with that book.

A significant part of the exhibition is devoted to the creative heritage of Yanka Maur. At the exhibition, you can see the editions of his works of various genres – novels, novellas, short stories: "Chalavek idze" (1927), "The Son of Water: apovest z zhytsia na Vognennai Zyamli" (1928), "U kraine raiskai ptushki" (1928), "Amok" (1930), "Pekla" (1929), "Paleskiya Rabinzony" (1930), "Tears of Tubi" (1930), "Apovesti buduchykh dzen" (1932), "TVT" (1934), "Vakol sveta" (1947), "Tsetka Emilia" (1954).

His translations into Belarusian of individual works by D. Mamin-Sibiryak, M. Prishvin, H.Ch. Andersen, M. Twain, etc., as well as translations of the works of Yanka Maur into Russian, Kazakh and other languages are also presented. The autographed books "U nashy skarbnitsu, Belarusian dzyarzhayna bibliyateka imya Lenina – ad aytara" are of particular interest.

The awards and perpetuation of the memory of the Yanka Maur are evidenced by the original documents from the National Archive of the Republic of Belarus. These are the resolutions of the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers of the BSSR on awarding the title of Honored Worker of Culture of the BSSR (1968), awarding the State Prize of the BSSR (1972, posthumously), etc.

Each section is illustrated with materials from the writer's family archive. Among the particularly interesting exhibits are Yanka Maur memorabilia: a writing set, chess, a tie, a collection of stamps from letters and postcards received from Esperantists around the world. The digital copies of important documents, autographs, photographs give a more complete picture of the writer's personality, complement and enrich the visual material.

The navigator of the exposition is the words-memories of Ivan Fedorovich's relatives and friends, revealing various facets of his character, certain life situations and interesting events. Every reader and visitor of the library has the opportunity to feel the "aura of Maur" and devote his spare time to acquaintance with a kind, sincere and truthful book by the author – a wizard and traveller.

The opening hours of the exhibition correspond to the Library opening hours.
Admission is by a library card or by the Social and Cultural Center ticket.

The books presented at the exhibition can be ordered through the E-catalogue of the National Library of Belarus.

For more info: (+375 17) 293 29 80.

The material is provided by the department of gallery and exhibition activities.

Read also:
Virtual journey with Yanka Maur: a project for the 130th anniversary of the writer's birth