Background
Karatkievich was born in 1930 in Orsha. In 1954 he graduated from the Philological Department of Kiev State University and worked as a teacher first in a village school in the Kiev region of Ukraine and then in his home town, Orsha. Later, he completed advanced literature courses (1960), and then cinematography (1962), both in Moscow . Literature then became his main occupation. His first published work was a poem that appeared in 1951, that was later followed by three collections of verse. Later, he turned to prose , and had since published a large number of short stories, in collections entitledChazenia , The Eye of the Typhoon, From Past Ages, and others. He also wrote the novels Unforgettable and The Dark Castle Olshansky. Probably Karatkievich's most popular work is the novel The Wild Hunt of King Stakh (1964). His novels deal predominantly with Belarus's historical past , including the January Uprising 1863 - 1865. Karatkievich also wrote a number of plays, essays, articles, screenplays for short and feature films, and some very interesting detective and adventure stories