Polina Stepanenko was born in 1968 in the Vitebsk region. She writes fiction and studies the work of a Belarusian poet, Maxim Bogdanovich.
In 1990 she graduated from the faculty of Belarusian Language at the State University in Minsk. Next she worked in the Maxim Bogdanovich Museum. In 1998 she started working for Wiasna/Spring -- the famous Belarusian human and civil rights organisation.
Andrei Yanushkievich was born in 1976 in the Grodno region. He graduated from the faculty of history of the Janek Kupala University. His main interests are the social and political history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In 2014 he established his own publishing house. So far he has managed to publish about two hundred books translated into Belarussian. He is also a translator from Polish.
On 16 May, 2022 he opened a bookstore in Minsk, but it was closed down the same day. Andrei Yanushkievich and his bookstore partner were arrested for 30 days. The reasons for the arrest were false, but there was one real reason: the opening of the Belarusian institution of culture.
The stay was also a part of the project Talking with Belarusian Writers -- Continued. Before the residents came to Krasnogruda, they were staying in the Genshagen palace in Germany between 2 and 12 August. Their stay was co-organized by the Borderland Foundation, the Genshagen Foundation and the Belarusian branch of PEN-Club. It was financially supported by the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.