Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future

Svetlana Alexievich “The Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future” is the fourth book of the famous artistic-documentary cycle “Voices of Utopia” about the main technogenic catastrophe of the 20th century, from the Nobel Prize–winning author in Literature.

“Two catastrophes coincided: the cosmic one — Chernobyl — and the social one — an enormous socialist continent went under water. And this second collapse eclipsed the cosmic one, because it is closer to us and more understandable. What happened in Chernobyl is, for the first time on earth, and we are the first people to live through it.”

The audiobook is recorded according to a new author’s edition: the book has grown by a third due to restored fragments excluded from previous editions for censorship reasons.

In May 2019, the American TV network HBO’s miniseries “Chernobyl” premiered, dedicated to the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The script of this film is partly based on Svetlana Alexievich’s book. The series received wide worldwide popularity and was nominated in several categories for various film awards.

“The Chernobyl Prayer” is absolutely essential and heartbreaking reading. Not by chance did Alexievich receive the Nobel Prize. I think she managed to approach the tragedy from an unexpected angle — to tell it through the stories of people about whom, without her, we would never have known… For her, they are all equal — whether generals, party leaders, or peasants — and that doesn’t matter. And it inspired me a great deal.” Craig Mazin, screenwriter of HBO’s miniseries “Chernobyl”.

“In this polyphonic work — at once a tragedy, a fantasy, a biographical narrative, and a document — there is no intention to condemn. No! What Svetlana Alexievich offers us is absolutely pure documentation, which above all obliges us collectively to do the work of memory about the human and social consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe.” Jean Roussé, journalist