The following interview originally appeared in Belarusian on Reform.news.
Grunwald Publishing was founded in Canada in 2023 with the goal of publishing Belarusian books in English. The first book – a translation of Maksim Haretski’s short novel Two Souls – was released in September 2024. Several other works are currently in different stages of pre-publication, including the first English translation of Master Zavalnya by Jan Barszczewski, a reissue of The Belarusian Cookbook by Ales Bely, and a Belarusian language textbook for English speakers.
We spoke with Grunwald Publishing’s founder, Olya Ianovskaia, about the specifics of publishing books in Canada, the search for identity in life and literature, and the visibility of Belarusian content online. The latter issue is currently the subject of much discussion. In addition to running a small press in her free time, Olya works in digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), with focus on large two-sided marketplaces. Her experience includes companies like eBay, Shutterstock, and Adevinta (who owned kufar.by until 2022).
– You moved to Canada as a teenager. How did you manage to maintain such fluent Belarusian and speak without an accent?
— We moved here in the late 1990s when I was 15 years old. In Minsk, I studied at a Belarusian-language gymnasium, and after moving to Canada, I quickly discovered the Belarusian community in Toronto. The friendships I made during that time helped me avoid complete assimilation.
The first years as an immigrant were critical and the most difficult: a new country, a new culture, a new language. I was a teenager, and there was no Skype. Letters to friends took more than two weeks to arrive, and international phone cards were insanely expensive. We called our grandparents for literally 2–3 minutes a month. But my grandfather always wrote me letters in Belarusian.
That was when I started reading more Belarusian books. And Uladzimir Karatkievich became the writer who helped me rediscover the language.
Today, internet and social media make access to information so much easier – almost everything is just a click away. There are many cultural initiatives and projects that not only help preserve the language but also keep it relevant. Anyone can quickly access Belarusian books, music, films, and podcasts from anywhere. Communities that previously existed only locally, can now exist virtually anywhere and span the globe.
– Nevertheless, there is a problem with the visibility of the Belarusian language online…
— This is not just a Belarusian problem. There are systemic obstacles that make it more difficult for local and niche content to be noticed. This can become a serious issue when exploited to disseminate propaganda, disinformation or as part of information warfare.
Let me give an example. In March 2022, I noticed that when searching for Ukraine-related information in Russian on Google, almost all of the top results came from Russian state-controlled media. This was at the very beginning of the war, and already, top spots in Google for relevant queries were entirely occupied by Russian propaganda content.
This did not seem right, neither from a moral nor from a technical SEO standpoint. Ukrainian media outlets were publishing a lot of materials in Russian, and reputable international sources like BBC Russia and Deutsche Welle were also active. According to basic SEO logic, these sources should have ranked high, or even higher than Russian RIA News, but that wasn’t happening.
So, I wrote an article explaining why this should not be the case. My goal was to draw Google’s attention to the issue. The article was published in the leading digital marketing publication Search Engine Land under a rather provocative title: “Dear Google, It’s Time to Remove Russian Propaganda from Search Results.” The title, by the way, was written by the editor, not me.
The article sparked a discussion in the SEO community. There were conversations about freedom of speech, censorship, and the limits of algorithmic intervention. Some well-known figures in SEO space and among Google’s competitors commented on it. Whether or not the article had anything to do with it, but a little while later, Google updated its Rater Guidelines – the documents used to evaluate content quality. Updates were introduced into the way political and sensitive news content was assessed. The Russian-language search landscape in Google became more balanced.
Russian propaganda did not disappear entirely, but its dominance weakened noticeably. Independent Ukrainian and Western media became more visible.
As a result, Google faced serious problems – Russia fined the company heavily for spreading “anti-Russian propaganda”. But at least people searching for information about the war were now getting a more diverse range of sources.
This case shows that even small changes in the functioning of search engines can have a significant impact on the entire information space. However, algorithms will never be perfect, and SEO experts will always try to game the system.
The Russian narrative dominated despite the large amount of authoritative Ukrainian and Western content, even in a situation where the resources of both sides were fairly balanced. In that case, is there any hope for Belarusian content, which has far fewer creators, fewer readers, and no state support?
It is difficult to deliver information about Belarus to those who know nothing about it and are not interested.
— But how can we ensure that those who are looking for Belarusian content can actually find it?
— When we talk about what hinders the visibility of the Belarusian language and Belarusian content online, one of the big issues is algorithmic obstacles: Google and other search engines may automatically switch to Russian because they favor more popular content.
Browser settings also play a role, as Google detects the language configuration of a user’s computer. If your operating system, Google account, and browser are set to Russian, then Google will most likely provide results in Russian. These are strong signals coming from the user themselves. In this case, it’s important to adjust computer and browser settings.
From time to time, I see various petitions calling on companies to add Belarusian language support. This is a good activist effort, but do we really understand what we are asking for?
We are asking businesses to invest significant resources into localizing their products into another language. However, localization is a complex, expensive, and labor-intensive process. And for businesses whose main objective is to make money, investment decisions are based on expected ROI (return on investment).
Companies look at the underlying numbers: Is there a sufficient number of users whose browser settings are in Belarusian? Most site analytics tools make it easy to analyze users’ language settings. If we use the internet in Russian, English, or another language, we become invisible as a potential user segment and as a candidate for localization.
I realized this when I tried to convince my PayPal colleagues of the need for Belarusian localization. There was no interest in the project because the underlying user numbers did not justify the investment.
Another significant factor is information competition. When Belarusian topics enter the news cycle, they are often discussed from a Russian perspective. And purely Belarusian and Belarusian-language content is relatively scarce. As a result, algorithms do not pick up on it, treating it as niche content instead.
– How can this situation be improved?
— When it comes to the visibility of Belarusian content, regardless of the language it is in, there is quite a bit of work to do. We need to promote Belarusian narratives in the English-speaking space through articles, analysis, media projects, and create more high-quality content while actively engaging with it. Likes, shares—these things matter a lot. I believe that we need our own media platform, and the one in English at that.
Visibility of Belarusian content online is not an issue of language, but an issue of presence. It is not Google’s responsibility to fix this, but our own.
Let me give a small example. Before 2020, the Belarusian Canadian Alliance did not have a proper bilingual website, even though the organization had existed for over 70 years. There was no website that could be indexed by Google or easily found by people looking for information about Belarusians in Canada. During the elections and subsequent protests, many Canadian politicians and media tried to find information about us – but there wasn’t much there. Up until that point, the community had been inwardly focused, Belarusians for Belarusians. The organization did not necessarily function in a way that sought to represent Belarusians before the people of Canada, which is what many diasporas try to do.
So we launched a proper, optimized, bilingual website. And suddenly, it became much easier to find us. Media representatives started reaching out. It turned out that politicians cared about how Belarusian-Canadians perceived the situation in Belarus. Both media and politicians were interested in the Belarusian issue, but they needed voices from the Belarusian-Canadian community to help them understand the context.
– As I understand, the idea to create Grunwald Publishing also came from the realization that we needed to increase our presence online?
— Yes, exactly. But there was another important reason. My daughter is now a teenager. She was born in Canada, and whether I want it or not, her native language is English. So the question arose: how can I ensure that she perceives herself as a part of the broader Belarusian community? Thousands of Belarusian children are born abroad every year. They are raised in different cultures. How do they preserve their identity? How can we prevent complete assimilation? I wanted to make sure that the youth have a way of retaining their Belarusian identity, even if they no longer speak the language. I wanted to lower the barrier, making more of our culture and our narratives accessible in English.
I looked for English translations of the Belarusian classics I had read in school – to share them with my daughter. What I found was very disappointing.
I found an expensive translation of King Stakh’s Wild Hunt.
I found a few translations of Vasil Bykau, moslty done in Soviet times, translated from Russian rather than directly from Belarusian. They were available in digital format – for close to $250 per PDF, or from second-hand online bookshops.
These were old copies from school libraries, in poor condition.
I knew exactly what I was looking for, and yet it was difficult to find. It was as if Belarusian translations simply didn’t exist. And those that did were almost inaccessible.
In the marketing world, this is unacceptable.
That’s when I had the idea: Belarusian books in English translation should be easy to find and buy. A book shouldn’t be printed in a run of 200 copies that end up sitting in someone’s garage. It should be instantly available online, on all major platforms, because that’s exactly what a modern buyer expects.
That is how the idea of Grunwald Publishing was born.
It took some time to understand what needed to be done, and why it was important.
But once that realization came, the technical part – registering and setting up the business in Canada, handling legal matters, and developing key processes – turned out to be fairly straightforward. The main focus for me right now is the translation work itself.
– Do you translate yourself, or do you invite other translators?
— I both translate on my own and I also look for translators. We are in contact with Jim Dingley, a British translator who, together with his wife Ella, has been translating from Belarusian into English for years. We are currently discussing some of his recent works. Translators interested in the initiative are also starting to reach out. I believe that once we start expanding, more people will join.
– Why did you choose Two Souls by Maksim Haretski as the first book for your press? Was it a practical or an ideological decision?
— That was the book I was reading at the moment the idea struck. But I also thought that it would be interesting and relevant for Canadians because it deals with the search for identity, the search for oneself. Canada and the United States are immigrant nations, so the theme is quite relevant.
– What criteria do you use when selecting books for your publishing house? Or is the list formed spontaneously?
— A bit spontaneously. Right now, I am working on the translation of Master Zavalnya because I have always loved this work. It is a work of gothic folk horror, which many people might find fascinating. I think it could appeal to folklorists, voodoo enthusiasts, and fans of Tim Burton. Jaroslaw Anders even called it “European voodoo.” The imagery in the book is so vivid that I feel it deserves a screen adaptation. But the first step is to finish translating it. Then we will move forward from there.
I am also interested in publishing non-fiction—books on ethnography, anthropology, and, of course, more classical Belarusian literature.
One of the projects we are working on right now is the re-issue of a Belarusian language textbook for English speakers, the book that was originally published in Canada 51 years ago.
– Do you have a team? Who is currently working at your small press?
— There is no permanent team, and to be honest, at this stage, maybe it’s not even necessary, because each project has its own specifics. There are a few people with whom I work closely, as well as alpha readers – people who read early drafts of translations and provide feedback. From time to time, translators also reach out.
Recently, we held an open call for illustrators for Master Zavalnya and discovered several incredibly talented artists. Hopefully, we will be working with them in the future.
For now, I am handling book layout and formatting myself, but I have a few skilled designers in mind.
Right now, we are also working on the audiobook version of Two Souls, which is being produced by my daughter, Viliya. She does vocals and is learning music production, so she knows how to work with audio systems.
– How do you distribute and promote these books? What do you do to ensure they are visible? How can English-speaking readers interested in Belarusian literature find them?
— I try to make them as widely available as possible, ensuring they are where the readers are. That means we need to be everywhere. I am learning and developing these processes through the distribution of our first publication, Two Souls. I aim to be able to have our books on the largest platforms.
Right now, Two Souls is available on: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indigo, Waterstones, Everand, Apple Books, and many other places.
It is important for me to make it easy for any bookstore to order our books through a central distributor. One of my main goals is to have our books in public and academic libraries, both in print and digital formats so that they are available for borrowing by readers and listeners.
With audiobooks, the plan is the same: to make them widely accessible on all possible platforms.
– Belarusian literature is undoubtedly a part of European literature, but it remains somewhat mysterious and lesser known. How do you promote Belarusian literature? What aspects do you emphasize – the fact that it’s less known or its connection to broader European literature?
— It would depend on the book. I was monitoring the stats of Two Souls on various platforms and noticed rankings within specific sub-categories. For several weeks, Two Souls held the fourth position in the category of “World War I”. This was a bit unexpected, but it made sense – a book can be promoted through related and adjacent categories and themes. If we try to sell books exclusively through the theme of Belarus, we would be limiting ourselves too much.
– Under what categories do you file your books in libraries and bookstores?
— I choose categories and tags based on theme, style, language, geography, culture, and other factors. Bookstores and libraries then make their own decisions on how to classify them in their systems. I also have my own small online bookshop, where I have started gathering translations of Belarusian books.
I created a dedicated page called Belarusian Literature in English, it’s specifically meant to be findable in search engines.
– Are sales of your first book going well? How much demand is there?
— Yes, sales are ongoing. I wasn’t sure what to expect because Two Souls was our first publication. However, the results have already exceeded my expectations, and I believe there is still a lot of growth potential.
I don’t yet have comprehensive statistics on library placements – and getting our books into libraries is one of my main goals. But every now and then, I find out that Two Souls has appeared in a small public library somewhere in the U.S., and that makes me really happy.
– What books can we expect from your small press in the near future?
— I would like to release an expanded edition of Two Souls in hardcover, with detailed commentary or an essay providing more historical and cultural context around the novel.
The translation of Master Zavalnya is almost complete, and we are planning a beautiful illustrated edition.
By the end of April, we aim to publish The Belarusian Cookbook by Ales Bely.
We are also working on a reissue of Fundamental Belarusian, a Belarusian language textbook for English speakers.
There are also ongoing conversations with other authors for future publications.
Translators, illustrators, authors, or experts on Maksim Haretski can reach us through our website at grunwald.ca, through social media, or by email at mail@grunwald.ca.