Chronicler of war, Chernobyl horrors Alexievich wins Nobel for literature

Minsk

BELARUSSIAN author Svetlana Alexievich, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday, has drawn international acclaim with her emotional accounts of the Chernobyl disaster and World War II based on witness accounts.

Chronicling such horrors in the first person through the words of witnesses, Ms Alexievich has seen her works translated into numerous languages and scooped international awards.

But her books, controversially written in Russian, are not published in her home country, long ruled by authoritaria…