I take a very long time to write my books - from five to ten years. — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share Image
I write my books at moments of shock. I meet people in extremis and their stories are highly emotionally charged. — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share Image
Why do I write? I have been called a writer of catastrophes, but that isn't true. I am always looking for words… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share Image
My writing is not just all facts and voices. I strive to create a text that works as a sign, pointing out… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share Image
There are many oral historians in America, but my books are made using the rules of novel writing. I have a beginning,… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share Image
To be in conflict with the authorities is one thing. We Russian writers have got used to that. But to be in… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share Image
The books that I'm writing, you can write them only when you're amongst your people. You're not going to find it on… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share Image
The subjects I wanted to write about - the mystery of the human soul, evil - didn't interest newspapers, and news reporting… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share Image
“Reality has always attracted me like a magnet, tortured and hypnotized me, and I wanted to capture it on paper. So I… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share Image
Real people speak in my books about the main events of the age, such as the war, the Chernobyl disaster, and the downfall of… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
In the post-Soviet era, instead of freedom, various stripes of autocratic-totalitarianism have flourished: Russian, Belarusian, Kazakh... We are finding our way out from under… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
“How can we preserve our planet on which little girls are supposed to sleep in their beds, and not lie dead on the road… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
I write my books at moments of shock. I meet people in extremis and their stories are highly emotionally charged. — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
Women tell things in more interesting ways. They live with more feeling. They observe themselves and their lives. Men are more impressed with action.… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
Many times, I have been shocked and frightened by human beings. I have experienced delight and revulsion. I have sometimes wanted to forget what… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
No book about Soviet sacrifice was as strong as the women's stories I heard as a child. — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
I see the world as voices, as colors, as it were. From book to book, I change, the subjects change, but the narrative thread… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
We thought we'd leave communism behind, and everything would turn out fine. But it turns out you can't leave this and become free, because… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
A man without a memory is only capable of doing evil, nothing else but evil. — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
When people talk, it matters how they place words next to each other. — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
“The Germans rolled back, and a wounded lieutenant, the artillerist Kostia Khudov, was left in no-man’s-land. The orderlies who tried to bring him back… — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
What I'm concerned with is what I would call the missing history - the invisible imprint of our stay on Earth and in time. — Svetlana Alexievich Copy Share
