Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist, and oral historian who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time." She is the first writer from Belarus to receive the award.

Alexievich was born in Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine. Her father was Belarusian and her mother Ukrainian. Growing up in Belarus, where both her parents were teachers, she pursued journalism at the University of Minsk. Over the years, she has worked as a teacher, journalist, and editor, including a stint at the newspaper Sel'skaja Gazeta.

Her criticism of political regimes in the Soviet Union and thereafter Belarus has periodically forced her to live abroad, in countries such as Italy, France, Germany, and Sweden. Alexievich's work vividly depicts life during and after the Soviet Union through the experience of individuals, employing interviews to create a collage of a wide range of voices. Her innovative "documentary novels" have earned her international recognition and numerous awards.