June 20, Pozirk. Siamion Bukčyn, a renowned man of letters and journalist, died on Friday, just under two months before his 84th birthday, the Belarusian Association of Journalists has reported, citing his son.
Born in Russia’s Kursk province on August 18, 1941, Bukčyn lived in Minsk since 1949.
In 1967, he graduated from Belarusian State University’s Faculty of Philology. He worked as senior editor at the Belarusian Television (1967–1968), senior academic editor at the Belarusian Soviet Encyclopedia publishing house (1968–1969) and managing editor at the Belarusian Academy of Sciences’ news bulletin (1969–1985).
In 1998–2001, he worked as a journalist and lecturer in Warsaw.
In the first half of the 1990s, he was founder and editor in chief of the liberal newspaper Evropeyskoye Vremya.
He also wrote for independent media outlets, such as Narodnaja Vola, Biełaruskija Naviny (Naviny.by) and Naša Niva.
Bukčyn is the author of more than 20 books of history, essays, non-fiction and fiction novellas.
According to the BAJ, “amid total repression” in early 2021, Bukčyn signed the open letter “Stop the Brute Force of Lawlessness!”
