Uladzimir Arloŭ

Uładzimir Arłou, known as U. A. Arlou (, ; born 25 August 1953 in Polotsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union) is a Belarusian historian, writer, politician, and poet. He is chairman of the Belarusian PEN International.

Biography Uladzimier Arloŭ was born into a family of intelligentsia. His mother was a teacher of history and his father held the position of a public prosecutor. In 1975 he graduated from the School of History of the Belarusian State University (BSU) and went on to work in Novopolotsk as a teacher of history (1975—1976), and then as a reporter, head of a department, and deputy editor-in-chief for the Chimik (Chemist) municipal paper (1976—1986). After he moved to Miensk he held the position of an editor at Mastackaja Litaratura Publishers (1988—1997). Uladzimier Arloŭ is a member of the Belarusian Writers’ Union and the Belarusian Centre of the International P.E.N. In 1988 he joined the Adradžeńnie (Revival) Belarusian People’s Front and was elected twice to its Sojm (Assembly). At present he does not belong to any political party. Uladzimier Arloŭ is a Uniate (Greek Catholic). He lives in Miensk.

Creative work Uladzimier Arloŭ published his debut poems in Blakitny Lichtar (Blue Lantern) student underground self-publish magazine in Navapolack in 1973. At the BSU he was one of the students who launched Milavica underground self-publish miscellany in Miensk (1974—1976). This was the reason why he was summoned to the KGB ‘for preventive conversations’. In the 1970s and the 1980s Uladzimier Arloŭ and Vinceś Mudroŭ took part in copying and distributing a number of Belarusian publications that were forbidden at the time, including the Russian-Belarusian (Kryvičian) Dictionary by Vaclaŭ Lastoŭski.

Uladzimier Arloŭ first won renown for his prose, including historical writings, and later on was also acclaimed as a remarkable essayist and poet.

He has written a great many books of prose, poetry, historical publications, and essays.

Uladzimier Arloŭ’s writings have been translated into a number of languages, including English, German, Polish, Swedish, Czech, Ukrainian, Hungarian, French, Romanian, Russian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Slovak, and Georgian. His essay Independence, written in 1990, has been rendered into 25 languages. He also wrote scripts to popular science documentaries Eŭfrasińnia of Polacak, Polacak Mazes, Simiaon of Polacak and others.

Uladzimier Arloŭ translated There Was Such a Village by Mikalaj Ulaščyk from Russian into Belarusian in 1989, The Murder of Peter the Unknown by Valery Shevchuk in 1993 and Rovno/Rivne by Oleksandr Irvanets’ in 2007 from Ukrainian into Belarusian.

ARCHE journal has said that "Uladzimier Arloŭ masterfully writes historical prose and ironic essays. His filigree style and Rabelaisian humour have made him one Belarus’ most popular writers."