Uladzimir Niakliaeu is a Belarusian poet, writer, social and political figure.
Uladzimir was born on July 11th, 1946, in Smargon, Belarus. Studied at the Technical School of Electronic Communication, Minsk (1966), Literature Institute, Moscow (1971), graduated from the Department of Philology of the Institute of Pedagogics, Minsk (1973).
Professional writer since 1970. The first book of poetry “Otkrytie” (The Opening) was published in 1976.
Author of more than 20 books of poetry and prose, winner of many national and international literary awards.
Worked as Editor-in-Chief of the monthly journal on contemporary literature Krynica (Source) in 1986-1997, Editor-in-Chief of the weekly newspaper on culture Litaratura i Mastactva (Literature and Art) in 1998, and Chairperson of the Belarusan Union of Writers in 1999-2001.
Emigrated from Belarus in 1999, lived in Warsaw (Poland) and Helsinki (Finland). In 2004, returned to Belarus.
Since 2005 – Chairperson of Belarusan PEN Center.
Since 2010 – Leader of the civic campaign “Tell the Truth!”, ran for the presidential election as an independent candidate in 2010. On the day of the election, was assaulted by police forces and imprisoned for one month. While in prison, wrote the book “Letters to freedom and Volha”. The international human rights organization “Amnesty International” recognized him as a prisoner of conscience.
Since 2022, he has been living and working in Poland.
