Post-Nobel Alexievich coverage

       There was a good deal of Svetlana Alexievich-coverage when it was announced that she was this year's Nobel literature laureate (see, my previous mention) but not too much of particular interest since -- but now Masha Gessen has a longer profile in The New Yorker, The Memory Keeper: The oral histories of Russia's new Nobel laureate, the best introduction/overview of the author to date.
       There are also some choice quotes, including:

Now that her books are openly sold in Belarus, she has readers, but "readers can give you nothing but banalities." Not that she doesn't like her readers -- she just does not want to talk to them. "I'm not interested in people as such," she said.

       Also interesting: in The Guardian Marketa Hulpachova reports that Belarus bookshop braves the state to publish Nobel winner's work, discussing Alexievich's complicated relationship with/in Belarus.
       Among the interesting titbits: in Belarus:

Russian-language books make up about 95% of the market. "Belarus-produced books have no chance, as they're more expensive and less numerous," says Kastiukevich.

       Meanwhile:

Alexievich writes in Russian, which alienates her from a generation of Minsk intellectuals dedicated to resuscitating the Belarusian language.