Vintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich

Vintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich, a Polish-Belarusian writer, poet, dramatist, and social activist who lived from February 8, 1808, to December 21, 1884, is regarded as one of the pioneers of the contemporary literary tradition in Belarus and the country's national school theater.

He published works in Polish and modern Belarusian. He had to deal with the non-standardization of the current Belarusian language when writing in it because the Old Belarusian (Ruthenian) writing tradition had all but disappeared by that point. Dunin-Marcinkievi was a bureaucrat who resided and worked in Minsk starting in 1827. He bought a mansion close to Ivyanets in 1840 and spent most of his writing time there. He published Pan Tadeusz, an epic poem by Adam Mickiewicz, in Vilnius in 1859 after having translated it into Belarusian. Only the first two chapters of the poem were published as a result of pressure from Russian Empire officials. The poem had never before been translated into a different Slavic tongue.

During the January Uprising, Dunin-Martsinkyevich was charged by the police for participating in separatist propaganda. He was detained, then later released under police surveillance. His daughter, Kamila Marcinkievi, took part in the revolt and was punished for her political participation by receiving a psychiatric hospital sentence. The author was laid to rest at Tupalshchyna, which is now Valozhyn Rajon.