Lightning over Vilnius

"Lightnings over Vilnius" is a trilingual collection created for the 700th anniversary of Vilnius. Poems in Belarusian, Lithuanian and Polish reflect the multicultural spirit of the city and its difficult fate. The initiative belongs to translator and researcher Alma Lapinskiene. Famous poets and translators of the Vilnius region took part in the publication, who turned this collection into a real literary bridge between peoples.

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This book is a gift to the ancient and ever-young Vilnius for its 700th anniversary from us, the people of Vilnius: Belarusians, Lithuanians, Poles. The idea of this trilingual poetry collection belonged to Alma Lapinskiene, a doctor of humanities who has been a tireless translator from Belarusian into Lithuanian for 40 years and a hard worker in the field of Belarusian-Lithuanian relations. Her pen also includes wonderful translations of my poems into Lithuanian. Thank you very much, dear Alma! The Poles of Vilnius were not left aside either - one of the oldest and most famous poets of the Vilnius region, Alexander Sniezhka, not only elegantly and creatively translated the poems from Belarusian into Polish, but also helped with the practical issues of designing and publishing the collection. A low bow and sincere gratitude for this, Mr. Alexander! The fate of Vilnius over these 700 years has never been simple and easy – from time to time, clouds gathered over it, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and blizzards raged. But as long as we, the people of Vilnius, stick together – we will not be broken!