People’s poet of Belarus died at 84.
Information about his death was posted by Svyatlana Kalinkina, editor of “Narodnaya Volya”, on her Facebook page.
The journalist Maryna Koktysh wrote that Hilevich had been suffering from cancer.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Nil Hilevich was born to a peasant family in 1931. In the first years after World War II, he worked as a postman at the collective farm. In 1951, he graduated from Minsk Pedagogical College. He combined the last year of studies with his work as the teacher in one of the Minsk schools.
He wrote for children and adults. Since 1946, when Hilevich was first published, he had produced more than 20 books of poetry, including poetry for children. He wrote prose, a novel in verse, books on literature and folklore.
In 1954, he joined the Union of Soviet Writers. In 1956, he graduated from the philological faculty of Belarusian State University, where he later defended his thesis. He became a BSU professor in 1978.
From 1960 to 1986 he was an employee of the Department of the Belarusian literature of the BSU. From 1958 to 1963 he worked as a literary consultant in “Zvyazda”.
In 1981-1991 he was board secretary of the Union of Soviet Writers.
He was one of the founders and the first chairman of the Frantsysk Skaryna Belarusian Language Society (until 1997).
Nil Hilevich was an honorary citizen of the Bulgarian town of Vratsa.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/DeEk1qRwPrE”][vc_column_text]Photo Viktar Talochka / Sputnik
