Belarus will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the birth of Maxim Bogdanovich, eminent Belarusian poet, journalist and literary critic, on 9 December 2016.
Maxim Bogdanovich is one of the brightest stars in the sky of Belarusian poetry. In the short years of his life, he created a rich legacy cherished by generations of Belarusians.
Maxim Bogdanovich is one of the pioneers of the Belarusian literature. His works have been translated into about two dozen languages, including English, Spanish, German, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and French, and published in the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, France, Yugoslavia and other countries.
The poet was born in Minsk on 9 December 1891. Soon after his birth, the family moved to Grodno. Maxim's father Adam Bogdanovich was a famous ethnographer, folklorist and linguist. His mother was a teacher by education. Maxim had three siblings, brothers Vadim and Lev and sister Nina.
The poet's mother died at the age of 27 in 1896. Soon after that his father was transferred to Nizhny Novgorod, and Maxim left the Belarusian land.
The future poet began writing in Belarusian at the age of 10. He learned the language by reading Belarusian books from his father's library. Maxim Bogdanovich went professional when he almost turned 16. In 1907, the Vilnya newspaper Nasha Niva came out with Bogdanovich's first work, the novel Muzyka (Music). It was a short story about the author's vision on art. In 1908, his first poems Spring Will Come and Over the Tomb were published in the same newspaper.
In June 1908, Maxim's father changed his job and the Bogdanovich family moved to Yaroslavl. Approximately in spring 1909, the young man was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The same year Adam Bogdanovich took his son to Crimea for treatment. The new landscape and new acquaintances contributed to Maxim's romantic mood, with his poems, notes, reviews, and satirical articles actively published in the subsequent years.
The book Vyanok (A Wreath) was published in 1913. In 1914, the poet became member of the Russian society of periodical press and literature. But the illness started to affect the art of the poet.
In October 1916, Maxim Bogdanovich graduated from the law school in Yaroslavl, moved to Minsk and got a job at the regional food committee. He devoted much time and effort to the job and wrote poems in the evening.
Maxim Bogdanovich had many plans that never materialized. The treatment did not help and the poet died at the age of 25 on 25 May 1917. He was buried at the city cemetery in Yalta.
The poems of Maxim Bogdanovich became a spiritual treasure of the Belarusian people. Many of his verses were set to music by Belarusian composers. Some of them, for instance Zorka Venera (Venus the Star) and Slutskiya Tkachyhi (Slutsk Weavers), are known to almost everyone in Belarus and to many abroad.
The 100th anniversary of the birth of the classic of the Belarusian literature Maxim Bogdanovich was included in the UNESCO calendar of historic events and anniversaries of eminent personalities celebrated by member states in 1991.
