On November 24, the participants of the project "On the Wave of Time, Throughout the Life" visited the homeland of Kuzma Chorny – the agro-town of Tsimkavichi, Kopylsky district, where they took part in the event “writer of a great soul”, dedicated to the Day honouring the memory of the classic of Belarusian prose.
Kuzma Chorny (1900-1944) became a real Tsimkavichi brand. The writer's countrymen, descendants of the very inhabitants once described in his works, walk the same paths every day, see the very hut where the writer's mother resorted to borrow a piece of bacon when her son went to enroll in the Nesvizh Teachers' Seminary. Nowadays, Tsimkavichi residents cherish the memory of their famous countryman, popularize his legacy. So, every year in Tsimkavichi, a number of various initiatives are held in honour of the writer: excursions to the Kuzma Chorny Literary Museum, book exhibitions and events in the Tsimkavichi rural library, thematic lessons for schoolchildren. The largest event of the agro-town, which gathers participants from all over Belarus, is the literary and musical festival “Tsimkavichi”, which takes place in June on the occasion of the writer's birthday.
Events dedicated to Kuzma Chorny Memorial Day, which are held annually at the end of November, have also become traditional in Tsimkavichi. This year, a meeting organized by the Kuzma Chorny Literary Museum and Tsimkavichi rural Library was held at the Tsimkavichi Secondary School, which bears the name of the prose writer.
The host of the event, the head of the Tsimkavichi rural library Olga Radkevich
The main audience of the event “writer of the great soul” were middle and high school pupils, teachers, representatives of the Kopylsky district newspaper "The glory of labour."
During the meeting, the chief bibliographer of the information and analytical department of the National Library of Belarus, Yulia Amosova, told the children about how the memory of Kuzma Chorny is honoured in the main library of the country, how many books of the prose writer are stored here and in what languages, introduced the pupilss to the most interesting pages of the virtual section about the writer created within the framework of the project "On the Wave of Time, Throughout the Life" and also recalled the 100th anniversary of the litobedinenie “Maladnyak”, which Kuzma Chorny was a member of. Taking into account the age of the audience, the performance was built in the form of a dialogue, full of questions, and the children received souvenirs from the library for the correct answers.
The event was attended by Elena Vasilevich, the Head of the Department of Publications and Textual Studies at the Yanka Kupala Institute of Literary Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. This year, the staff of the institute and the publishing house "Belarusian Science" have prepared the first volume of the academic collection of works by Kuzma Chorny, which is planned to be published in 12 volumes with comments. In comparison with previous collections of works published in the 1950s and 1990s, the book contains a legacy that was previously printed only on the pages of periodicals and collections. The new edition recreates the language of the writer, unique words characteristic only for residents of Tsimkavichi. The book can also be found in the collections of the National Library.
The event was decorated with an exhibition of photographs depicting beautiful landscapes of Tsimkavichi, that still remember Kuzma Chorny. The works were prepared as part of the joint photographic film "My native places“, which was held together with the photo club”Minsk”.
Lyudmila Nizhevich, head of the Kuzma Chorny Literary Museum, presented the photo exhibition. Lyudmila Iosifovna is a long-time friend and partner of the project "On the Wave of Time, Throughout the Life", with her help, a virtual section about the writer was created in 2020. Recall that the full texts of Lyudmila Nizhevich's articles are available in the project.
The magnificent finish of the event was the performances of teachers of the Tsimkavichi Children's Art School – accordionist Alexander Karpovich and cymbalist Veronika Zenko, who performed Belarusian tunes. At the end of the event, the audience was inspired by the performing skills of the head of the Rudnyansky rural house of culture, Ksenia Voloshina, who soulfully sang the famous ”My native land” by Igor Luchenok.
An informative addition to the event was a visit to the Kopylsky district central library named after A. Astreiko, as well as the alley of writers in Kopyl, where, among other authors, the memory of young people, natives of the Kopyl region – Kuzma Chorny, Ales Gurlo, Ian Skrygan and Adam Babareka is immortalized.
The library thanks the organizers of the event, the wonderful Tsimkavichi audience, as well as the project partner, the Kuzma Chorny Literary Museum, for fruitful cooperation and valuable materials from the museum's funds, which replenish the project every year.
The material was presented by Yulia Amosova, chief bibliographer of the information and analytical department.
Photo of the Kopylsky district newspaper "Glory to Labour"
and the Kuzma Chorny Literary Museum.
