Luzhanin, Maksim

(pseudonym of Aleksandr Amvros’-evich Karatai). Born Oct. 20 (Nov. 2), 1909, in the village of Prusy, in present-day Soligorsk Raion, Minsk Oblast. Soviet Byelorussian author. Honored Artist of the Byelorussian SSR (1969). Member of the CPSU since 1969.

Luzhanin took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. His poems were first published in 1925. He is the author of the poetry collections Steps (1928), Unanimously (1931), Spring Votes for Spring (1931), City Voices (1932), The Broad Battlefield (1945), Light of the Homeland (1952), and Open Spaces (1958), all of which reveal the spiritual makeup of contemporary man, his work, and his struggle for peace. Luzhanin’s books With the Eyes of Time (1964; articles and notes on literature), Kolas Talks About Himself (1964), and Twelve Evening Camp Fires (1968) are well known. He has translated the works of A. S. Griboedov, A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, A. Mickiewicz, and A. A. Fadeev into Byelorussian.

Luzhanin was a deputy to the Seventh and Eighth Convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR. He has been awarded the J. Kolas State Prize of the Byelorussian SSR (1965), two orders, and several medals.