Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited Knihauka, a Belarusian bookstore in Warsaw. She met with publisher Andrei Yanushkevich and familiarized herself with the work of his publishing house, which prints books exclusively in the Belarusian language. Andrei Yanushkevich Publishing is an independent Belarusian publisher founded in Minsk in 2014 and shut down by the regime in early 2023. A turning point came in 2019 with the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which made the publisher widely recognizable and commercially successful. Other bestsellers include Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher fantasy series and George Orwell’s 1984, released in August 2020 and immediately becoming a hit.
Andrei Yanushkevich first opened Knihauka in Minsk in 2022, but the bookstore operated for only one day: security forces carried out a search, and Andrei and a store employee were detained. After that, Yanushkevich continued his work in Poland.
During the meeting, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya and Mr. Yanushkevich discussed how the independent Belarusian publishing house operates in exile today, the challenges facing the Belarusian book sector, and the support needed to ensure that Belarusian-language books continue to be published and reach readers.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “Seeing people carry out daily work to preserve the Belarusian language and culture is inspiring and motivating. Congratulations to the Yanushkevich Publishing team on its 12th anniversary and to the Knihauka bookstore on its 3rd anniversary in Warsaw! It is wonderful how your store has become a cultural space where meetings with authors, presentations, and discussions take place, bringing Belarusians together and helping us remain a community even far from home”.
