Uladzimir DRAZDOU, a playwright, translator and compiler, was born November 25, 1948 in Smarhon, Hrodna Region. He graduated from the Minsk State Linguistic University in 1972 and the United Nations Course in Moscow (1978). In 1972-1978 he worked as interpreter in Pakistan and then as a lecturer at the Minsk State Linguistic University. He joined the United Nations Secretariat in New York in 1978 where he worked as the terminologist of the Translation Service till 1982. From 1983 he worked in diplomatic service.

Drazdou has translated, from English, a number of works by Carson McCullers and John O'Hara, as well as works from Urdu (a collection of stories by Indian and Pakistani writers). He also compiled and translated into Belarusian a collection of American detective short stories.

All his drama works: Direct Train to Paris with All Interchanges (1999), Lady Luck (2001), Rose in Wilderness (2003), Fantasia A-minor (2005) have been staged. Some of them (Direct Train to Paris with All Interchanges, Lady Luck) were performed at numerous international festivals.

Uladzimir DUBOUKA, a poet and a translator, was born on July 15, 1900, in Vitsebsk region, Belarus. He was educated at a teachers' training college, and after graduation taught for a time in a village school. After demobilization from the Red Army in 1922, he continued his literary studies in the Russian Federated Republic.

Dubouka began to publish his poems in 1922 and was a leading figure in the Belarusian literary movements of the twenties. In 1930 he was arrested on false charges and exiled to the Urals and a number of his works became unobtainable. Since the 'thaw' and his return to Belarus, the true value of his work has been fully appreciated once more. He authored several books of poetry. The work Dubouka produced in the 1920s often described the new life in the country and gave Belarusian literature values of humanism. His verses were written in very good poetical style and influenced a whole generation of young writers - P. Hlebka, M. Luzhanin and others.

Dubouka's works include There, Where the Cypresses Are (1925), Credo (1926), The Purple Sails Unfurled (1927), Nalla (1927), and Palessian Rhapsody (1961).

Dubouka is also a noted prose writer and translated the works of a number of western European writers into Belarusian, notably Byron and Shakespeare. He was awarded Kupala Literary Prize for his book of poetry Palessian Raphsody.

Ales DUDAR (real name, Alaksandr Dailidovich), a poet, translator and literary critic, was born December 24, 1904 in the village of Navasiolki (Homel region). His father had a peasant background and over his life worked a variety of jobs (mailman, railway worker, etc.). In 1915 - 1917 his family fled to Russia where he studied in a gymnasium. After coming back to Minsk, he continued his education whilst doing work as a stage actor. He also took a leading part in literary association Maladniak (arranged work in its branches in other towns). In 1927 - 28 he studied at Belarusian State University where many of the Belarusian writers, who were studying there at the time, made accusations that he was a "Belarusian chauvinists" and "self-centered." As a result of this he ended up having to leave. In early 1928 he left Maladniak and joined a new association Polymia. Dudar became one of the first victims of the wide campaign against Belarusian writers who were accused of being 'National Democrats'. In 1928 he was sent to a 3-year exile to Smalensk, Russia as a result of the content of one of his unpublished verses. After returning to Minsk he was again involved in literary work and was translating Pushkin's Eugene Onegin for the State Opera and Ballet Theatre. However, the translation was left unfinished due to his arrest. He was arrested under false pretence and, after many tortures, he was shot in Kurapaty, near Minsk, in 1937.

Dudar began publishing poetry in 1921; his books include On Sunny Paths (1925), More Golden, More Steely (1926) and The Tower (1928). He translated into Belarusian the works of Schiller, Goethe, Pushkin and Blok and several Russian writers of the Soviet period. Dudar's style is one of avant-garde, with many paradoxes and hyperbolas. His critical articles were rather contradictory and bore both high aesthetic and vulgar features.

Siarhei DZIARHAI, a poet, was born September 9, 1907, in Minsk, Belarus, into a family of a railroad worker. After graduation from school, he began studying a three year long course, but due to an illness he had to quit. In the 1930s he worked as a compositor for a national newspaper. In 1935-1937 he was falsely accused and sentenced to three years in prison. In 1937-1938 he lived at his brother's in a village. In 1939-1940 he was arrested again and sent into exile in Kazakhstan. From 1941 he lived in the Homel region. During World War II Dziarhai, whilst living in Homel, took part in the resistance movement. After the war he worked for some of the major literary journals.

His first verses were published in 1938, followed later by several books of poetr. He wrote about current life problems, the ideal human and his native country. He often applied folklore motives. Together with classical verse he also used free verse forms. He was considered to be one of the best Belarusian translators of poetry and has translated from Russian, Ukrainian Polish and German.

He was awarded medals and Honorary Addresses of the Supreme Council of Belarus. In 1964 he was awarded the State Kupala Literary Prize for his book of verses and long poems Four Elements.