Homeland

This is a novel about how history enters a home.
"Radzina" tells the story of generations of people whose lives are repeatedly fractured under the pressure of great events – and every choice reverberates in the fate of their descendants. Personal memory here is inseparable from collective memory, and family history becomes the history of the country.

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The novel's characters belong to several generations who, throughout history, experience new and new invasions and radical changes: revolution, collectivization, war, the Holocaust, relocation from villages to cities, Perestroika, and so on. Not only their own lives but also the fate of their descendants will depend on which side a person finds themselves on at the next turning point. Front lines repeatedly split families and communities, as has indeed happened and continues to happen in Belarus. Zbigniew Leo-Piotr Słupowski, also known as Zbych Słupowski (creative pseudonym), was born on February 29, 1971, in Vitrumichy in the Baranavichy region into a Jewish-Polish family. His father began his career as a melamed – a teacher in a cheder – then became the chief tax inspector of the region. His mother came from a family of Polish United Workers' Party functionaries who, after the 1968 crisis, were forced to emigrate to Belarus. Zbych was always an excellent student at school. After finishing school in Vitrumichy, he enrolled in the tractor-building faculty of Baranavichy State University. After some time, he transferred to Horki Agricultural Academy to study rural welfare development. After receiving his diploma, in 1997, he defended his dissertation at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus on animal fertilization in conditions of radioactive contamination. At the same time, he was involved in literary and translation activities. In 2020, Zbych Słupowski's first novel, "Essays on Modern Local Lore," was published by Haliathy Publishing House.