Sergey Zakonnikov Turns 80

• 18.09.2026, 12:51

On September 16, a Belarusian poet, journalist, and public figure celebrated his anniversary.

Sergei Zakonnikov was born on September 16, 1946, in the village of Sloboda in the Beshenkovichi District of the Vitebsk Region to a family of teachers. A year later, he moved to the village of Glybochka in the Ushachsky District of the Vitebsk Region, where the poet spent his childhood.

In 1969, Sergei Zakonnikov graduated from the Faculty of Philology at Belarusian State University and began teaching the Belarusian language and literature at the Kletnovskaya Secondary School in the Borisov District of the Minsk Region.

From 1970 to 1971, he worked as a literary editor for the Ushach District newspaper *Patryot*. From 1972 to 1975, he served as secretary of the Ushach District Committee of the Leninist Communist Youth League of Belarus (LKSMB). From 1975 to 1978, he was a correspondent and head of the rural youth section at the “Chyrvonaya Zmena” newspaper; from October 1975, he served as a correspondent for the literature and arts section of the “Zvyazda” newspaper. From 1978, he served as an instructor; from 1979 to 1986, he was head of the fiction section of the culture department at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus.

From 1986 to 2002, Sergei Zakonnikov served as editor-in-chief of the Belarusian literary magazine *Polymya*.

He has translated selected works by Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, and Lithuanian poets into Belarusian.

Sergei Zakonnikov is the author of numerous articles in the Belarusian media on socio-political topics.

The editorial staff of Charter97.org congratulates Sergei Zakonnikov on his anniversary and wishes him good health and creative success.