Svetlana Alexievich: Tell the whole truth

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When Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2015, the judges described her work as “a monument to suffering and courage in our time”. Alexievich’s books bear witness to how people in the former Soviet Union lived through historic events such as the Second World War, the war in Afghanistan, and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. She calls her books ‘novels in voices’ because at the heart of her work are the voices of ordinary people and their ways of coping with the traumas inflicted on them. You might find some of the things she talks about disturbing. Indian surgeon and award-winning novelist Kavery Nambisan has dedicated her life to caring for some of the most marginalised people of her country: migrant workers, abandoned widows, the destitute. She tells Asya Fouks why she thinks writing fiction has made her a better physician and how she copes when patients turn up at her house instead of waiting for her clinic to open. She also explains how a short letter from Bihar, which she had received as a young doctor, changed her life. Presenter: Asya Fouks Alexievich voiceover: Irena Taranyuk The Alexievich interview is a co-production between Nobel Prize Outreach and the BBC. Producers: Vibeke Venema, Tatsiana Yanutsevich and Radek Boschetty. Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707 (Photo: Svetlana Alexievich and Kavery Nambisan. Alexievich on the left wears a green shirt, Nambisan on the right wears a blue and red sari. Credits: David Bullivant/BBC, Joseph Kozhithara)