Belarusian publisher in London

Purpose

Skaryna Press is a Belarusian publishing house established in London in 2022.

As a publishing house in the diaspora, we aim to reflect its creative potential and support its active role in the continuous development of Belarusians' self-understanding, nationhood, and statehood. By virtue of being based in a different to Belarus social, cultural, and political environment, Skaryna Press is able to raise the issues and advocate for the values which may be overlooked or even actively ignored in our home country.

London is home to the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum, one of the most significant cultural and scholarly institutions of the Belarusian diaspora. Skaryna Press has been established in association with the Skaryna Library.

Work so far

The first publication of Skaryna Press was a beautiful Belarusian translation of the Beirut Stories of the Ukrainian classic, Ahatanhel Krymskyi. Its launch took place in Vilnius in October 2022. For this work, the translator has been nominated for the Drahomán Prize-2022.

We have also published an electronic version of Hanna Komar's book of documentary poetry reflecting on the experiences of those who participated in political protests and experienced persecution in the aftermath of the August 2020 elections. Another three exciting books of poetry followed: by Aleś Dubroŭski-Saročankaŭ, Dzmitry Rubin, and Artur Kamaroŭski.

A book documenting appeals of Belarusian political prisoners, their families, and leaders of the civil society to the Vatican was produced in collaboration with the Christian Vision group. Skaryna Press has also published a calendar with drawings of Belarusian churches made by Pavał Sieviaryniec, a political prisoner.

Merks Graz! by Uładzisłaŭ Harbacki is a poignant and emotional novella about human heroism and the romantic bond in the time of the seventeenth-century plague and the twenty-first-century Covid lockdown.

Plans

An index of Minskiie yeparkhial'nyie vedomosti, a periodical published at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, will be our first scholarly publication. It will be followed by a collection of papers written on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Skaryna Library in London; and a reproduction of a unique photo album from Vacłaŭ Łastoŭski's ethnographic expedition of the 1920s.

Later in 2023, a collection of gay prose and poetry from Belarus will appear.

We have secured translation rights for a number of outstanding books. Their titles and publication dates will be announced shortly.