Belarusian
First Language(s): Belarusian, Russian
Second Language(s):
English,
Swedish
tony lashden (they) is a queer feminist Belarusian writer, activist, and community organiser whose creative literary work focuses on the topics of collective healing, forced migration, and queer precarity. Building on their own experience of marginalisation, tony designs and facilitates art-spaces that centre voices of historically excluded communities in Eastern Europe.
What was your favorite book as a child?
My favourite book in childhood was Tale with Details (Сказка с подробностями) by Grigoriy Oster. It’s an excellent hypertextual fairy tale that talks about a horses who worked at carousel in an amusement part and a night guard who tells them different stories about the city they all live in.
What was the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?
As a queer person, I felt quite alone in a conservative patriarchal Belarus during my adolescence. Creative writing helped me to connect with other queer folks who had similar experiences, and it was an outlet of feelings associated with isolation and non-belonging. Writing for me was, and still is, an instrument of building community of people with shared value.
What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?
Shibari was definitely one of the most thrilling things I have experienced! It shifted my relations with my body and helped me to re-learn how to trust other people with my safety.
Do you listen to music while reading or writing?
No, I do not. Being a neurodivergent person, I like to work in silence. It helps me to focus on the process of reading/writing and gives me a necessary break from sensory stimuli around me.
Essay
Flowers Stay Fresh
Issue Spring '24
Supported by:
