The Zinc Boys

After the huge success of „Time Secund Hand“, „War is not a woman's sissy“/ “The Last Witnesses“ and „Chernobyl Prayer“, with the publication of „The Zinc Boys“ the publishing house „Paradox“ completes the famous literary Pentateuch „Voices of Utopia“.

The book was first published in 1989, and in 2013 a new, expanded edition was published, based on which the present Bulgarian translation was made. Without The Zinc Boys, a work that has long since become a worldwide bestseller, it is now impossible to imagine either the history of the Afghan War or the history of the last decade of Soviet rule, finally undermined by this unnecessary and unjust invasion.

The grief of the mothers of the „zinc boys“ is indelible, their desire to understand how and why their sons fought and died in Afghanistan is understandable. But learning the truth, many of them cannot bear it and are in denial.

Svetlana Alexievich was formally convicted of defamation for writing The Zinc Boys. Prosecutors, public prosecutors, and „support groups“ for the authorities in the press are involved in the trial. The materials from this disgraceful trial are included by the author for the first time in the latest edition of the book.

Svetlana Alexievich was born in 1948 in the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk, her parents are Belarusian and Ukrainian. After her father's military service ended, the family moved to Belarus. Svetlana attended high school, then studied journalism at the Universityin Minsk (1967-72). Alexievich worked as a teacher and journalist. Each of her works is the result of extensive research - interviews with between 500 and 700 people, review of thousands of documents, field visits. She has been called „the archaeologist of communism.“.

Alexievich is the 2015 Nobel Laureate in Literature. The prize is awarded to the Belarusian writer for her „polyphonic works, a monument to suffering and courage in our time“. What she does, the Swedish Academy notes, is to deepen our understanding of an entire era-through her singular approach of carefully creating collages of human voices.

She also became one of the winners of this year's award named after opposition Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The award was given for the 12th consecutive year, on October 7, by the international NGO RAW in War (Reach All Women in War) to encourage courageous individuals who risk their lives for the sake of justice through their work.