Yakub Kolas

Yakub Kolas (also Jakub Kołas) (, – August 13, 1956), real name Kanstantsin Mitskievich (Міцке́віч Канстанці́н Міха́йлавіч) was a Belarusian writer, People's Poet of the Byelorussian SSR (1926), and member (1928) and vice-president (from 1929) 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<!-- in Russian, Песни неволи-->(1908) and Songs of Grief (, 1910), poems A New Land (, 1923) and Simon the Musician (, 1925), stories, and plays. His poem The Fisherman's Hut (, 1947) is about the fight after unification of Belarus with the Soviet state. His trilogy At a Crossroads<!-- in Russian, На перепутье-->(1954) 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.

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Якуб Колас
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