Chernobyl's Prayer

A Chronicle of the Future

Svetlana Alexievich, Arch Tait, Anna Gunin

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Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Dalkey Archive Press
05 June 2025

European history; Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000; Oral history; Social impact of disasters; Nuclear issues

Series: Russian Literature Series

In April 1986 a series of explosions shook the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Flames lit up the sky and radiation escaped to contaminate the land and poison the people for years to come. While officials tried to hush up the accident, Svetlana Alexievich spent years collecting testimonies from survivors - clean-up workers, residents, firefighters, resettlers, widows, orphans - crafting their voices into a haunting oral history of fear, anger and uncertainty, but also dark humour and love. A chronicle of the past and a warning for our nuclear future,Chernobyl Prayershows what it is like to bear witness, and remember in a world that wants you to forget.

By: Svetlana Alexievich
Translated by: Arch Tait, Anna Gunin
Imprint: Dalkey Archive Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 215mm, Width: 139mm,
ISBN: 9781628974997
ISBN 10: 1628974990
Series: Russian Literature Series
Pages: 300
Publication Date: 05 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Svetlana Alexievich was born in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, in 1948 and has spent most of her life in the Soviet Union and present-day Belarus, with prolonged periods of exile in Western Europe. Starting out as a journalist, she developed her own nonfiction genre, which gathers a chorus of voices to describe a specific historical moment. Her works include The Unwomanly Face of War (1985), Last Witnesses (1985), Zinky Boys (1990), Voices from Chernobyl (1997), and Secondhand Time (2013). She has won many international awards, including the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature ""for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.""