Ivan Pavlovich Melezh is a talented Belarusian writer. His books, in particular the novel “Minsk Direction,” have been published several times in Russian. The writer vividly depicted in them the exploits of Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War and everyday life after the war. The novels “People in the Swamp” and “Breath of a Thunderstorm” are dedicated to the people of the Belarusian village of the 20s and 30s. This was the time of preparation for the “great turning point” of the decisive transition of the working peasantry to the construction of new, socialist forms of life. Narrating the fate of the inhabitants of the remote Polesie village of Kureni, the writer with great realistic force paints pictures of peasant labor and the acute social struggle of that time. Ivan Melezh is an artist of words, excellent knowledge of the life and way of life of his people. Psychologically subtly, poetically, excitedly, as if reliving and comprehending the recent past, the author managed, against the backdrop of major historical events, to convey the complexity of human relationships, the intensity of the spiritual life of the heroes.