Yakub Kolas

This was evident in his pen name 'Kolas', meaning 'ear of grain' in Belarusian. He wrote collections of poems Songs of Captivity (1908) and Songs of Grief (1910), poems A New Land (1923) and Simon the Musician (1925), stories, and plays. His poem The Fisherman's Hut (1947) is about the fight after unification of Belarus with the Soviet state. His trilogy At a Crossroads (1925) is about the pre-Revolutionary life of the Belarusian peasantry and the democratic intelligentsia. He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946 and 1949.

Yakub Kolas studied at Nyasvizh professor seminary and Alexandrov Military School. The recorded working language is Belarusian and Russian. Employment is recorded with Minsk Belarusian Pedagogical College, Belarusian State University and Naša Niva. Positions recorded include deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and list of members of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (1955–1959). Distinctions recorded are Stalin Prize, USSR State Prize, Order of Lenin and Order of the Red Banner.

• Name — Yakub Kolas Якуб Колас • Birth Name — Kanstantsin Mihaylavich Mitskievich • Birthplace — Akinchytsy, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire • Died — 13 August 1956 (aged 73) • Place of death — Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union • Occupation — Writer, dramatist, poet, translator • Period — 1906–1956

Kanstantsin Mitskievich was born in in a village Akinchytsy of Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire, in a family of a forester. He graduated from Nesvizh Teachers' Seminary in 1902, and was sent as a teacher to a village in Palesse region. He took part in an illegal teachers convention in 1906, was fired and jailed for three years in Minsk. After jail he became a journalist for Nasha dolya newspaper, there he first used the name "Yakub Kolas". In 1915 he was mobilized into the army. In 1916, after graduating from the Moscow Alexander Military School with the rank of warrant officer, he served in a reserve regiment in Perm. In the summer of 1917 he was sent to the Romanian front, but for health reasons he was demobilized. In 1921 Kolas returned to Minsk to work in the newly established Institute of Belarusian Culture. In 1928 Institute was transformed into the Academy of Sciences, Kolas became an academician there, and later a vice president. In 1926 he was named a "People's Poet of Belarus". During the World War 2 Kolas was in evacuation in Russia. He died in Minsk, on 13 August 1956. • Illustration — Kolas in 1921 In his honor, the Yakub Kolas Square and the Yakub Kolas Street in the center of Minsk bear his name.

• Вялікі пясняр беларускага народа. Зборнік артыкулаў аб жыцці і дзейнасці Якуба Коласа. Мінск, 1959. • З жыццяпісу Якуба Коласа: Дакументы і матэрыялы / Уклад., уступ. артыкул і імян. паказ. Г. В. Кісялёва; Рэд. В. В. Барысенка, М. І. Мушынскі. Мінск, 1982. • Казбярук У. М. Колас Якуб Беларуская энцыклапедыя. У 18 т. Т. 8. Мінск, 1999. С. 382—384. • Лужанін М. Колас расказвае пра сябе. Мінск, 1982. • Мацюх М. Д., Мушынскі М. І. Колас Якуб Беларускія пісьменнікі: Біябібліягр. слоўн. У 6 т. Т. 3 / Ін-т літ. імя Я. Купалы АН Рэспублікі Беларусь, Беларус. Энцыкл.; Пад рэд. А. В. Мальдзіса. Мінск, 1994. С. 299—304. • Мушынскі М. І. Коласазнаўства Беларуская энцыклапедыя. У 18 т. Т. 8. Мінск, 1999. С. 386—387. • Мушынскі М. І. Якуб Колас: Летапіс жыцця і творчасці. Мінск, 1982. • Мушынскі М. І. Летапіс жыцця і творчасці Якуба Коласа. — Мінск: Беларуская навука, 2012. — 1127 с. —. • Навуменка І. Я. Якуб Колас: Нарыс жыцця і творчасці. Мінск, 1982. • Разам з народам. Матэрыялы юбілейнай навуковай сесіі АН БССР, прысвечанай 100-годдзю з дня нараджэння Янкі Купалы і Якуба Коласа / Пад рэд. І. Я. Навуменкі. Мінск, 1983. • Тычына М. Колас Якуб Энцыклапедыя гісторыі Беларусі. У 6 т. Т. 4. Мінск, 1997. С. 225—227. • Якуб Колас: Да 100-годдзя з дня нараджэння. Біябібліягр. паказ. / Склад. Н. Б. Ватацы, М. І. Пратасевіч, Н. А. Адамовіч, А. Б. Дунаеўская; Рэд. В. П. Рагойша. Мінск, 1983. • Янка Купала і Якуб Колас у кантэксце славянскіх літаратур. — Мн., 2002.

Yakub Kolas was recorded at birth as Канстанцін Міхайлавіч Міцкевіч. He also worked under the names Якуб Колас, Тарас Гушча and Карусь Лапаць. The authorities additionally record the headings Jakub Kołas, Kanstancin Mickievič, Jakub Kolas, Kanstantsin Mitskevich and Taras Hušča. His recorded languages were Belarusian and Russian. His recorded confession was Eastern Orthodoxy. He was the child of Mikhal Kazimiravich Mitskievich and Hanna Yuriewna Mitskievich. He married Maria Dzmitrieuna Kamenska. 2 children are recorded: Danila Mitskevich and Michas Mitskevich.

He was employed by Minsk Belarusian Pedagogical College, Belarusian State University, Naša Niva, Institute of Belarusian Culture and National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Recorded positions include deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, list of members of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (1955–1959), list of members of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (1951–1954), list of members of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (1947–1950) and member of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR of the 1st convocation. He belonged to USSR Union of Writers, All-Byelorussian Central Executive Committee and Union of Belarusian Writers. Recognition and collections. Kolas received Stalin Prize, USSR State Prize, Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner, Order of the Red Banner of Labour and Medal "To a Partisan of the Patriotic War".

Yakub Kolas is recorded as having received Stalin Prize, USSR State Prize and Order of Lenin.