Publisher's abstract: Vasil Bykov (1924–2003) - prose writer, playwright, film scriptwriter, literary critic, publicist, public figure. People's Writer of Belarus, President of the Belarusian PEN Center, Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin Prize, State Prizes of the USSR and BSSR, and many prestigious literary awards. The creative destiny of V. Bykov is an unsurpassed example of civil courage, nonconformism, and stoicism. In Soviet literature, he was the pioneer of the so-called trench truth about war. The writer is the undoubted leader of the world “military” prose of the second half of the 20th century. This book is the writer’s memoirs about his experiences over almost 80 years of his eventful life. Vasil Bykov talks about the most striking pages of his biography, assesses the socio-political and cultural processes that took place before his eyes.