The Contests of Young Writers of the Belarusian PEN Centre and their Role in the Consolidation of Writers in the Belarusian Literary Process at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Abstract

The article provides a review of the contests of young writers held by the Belarusian PEN Centre in 2003–2006 and 2009–2012. The aim of the research is to determine the role of these contests in the consolidation of writers in the Belarusian literary process at the beginning of the 21st century. The author proves that for a certain circle of contemporary Belarusian authors, winning contests, as well as participation in events organized for the winners (such as literature seminars, roundtables, presentations of collections published in the outcome of contests), became an important part of their creative and professional biography. The authors themselves value highly the role ofcontests in their creative formation. The events organized for the winners influenced the formation of knowledge of finalists on the current literary process, created an opportunity to improve literary skills and publication of texts sent to a contest, to give authors a possibility to get to know each other better and, in addition, they resulted in the establishment of a creative and professional cooperation, which continued after the end of the contest. Such contests played an important role in the emergence of an informal youth literary circle, united around the person of Andrej Khadanovich, the main coordinator of contests and contest events, as well as in the formation of a circle of young literary activists around the Belarusian PEN Centre. The results of the research proved that literary contests - as one of the most important forms of consolidation of the environment of the writers – had a significant influence on many processes and phenomena of Belarusian literature of the 21st century.