Yakub Kolas

Who was Yakub Kolas?

Yakub Kolas, real name Kanstancin Mickievič was a Belarusian writer, People's Poet of the Byelorussian SSR, and member and vice-president of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences.

In his works, Yakub Kolas was known for his sympathy towards the ordinary Belarusian peasantry. This was evident in his pen name 'Kolas', meaning 'ear of grain' in Belarusian. He wrote collections of poems Songs of Captivity and Songs of Grief, poems A New Land and Simon the Musician, stories, and plays. His poem The Fisherman's Hut is about the fight after unification of Belarus with the Soviet state. His trilogy At a Crossroads is about the pre-Revolutionary life of the Belarusian peasantry and the democratic intelligentsia. He was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1946 and 1949. In honor of Yakub Kolas, a square and a street in the center of Minsk bear his name.