Poet, writer, head of the public movement For the Statehood and Independence of Belarus, former head of Tell the Truth.

Born on July 9, 1946 in the town of Smarhon, Hrodna Region. His father, Prakop, was Russian, a mechanic by training, he headed the village council in Kreva, mother – Belarusian Anastasia Maher.

He studied at the Minsk Electronic College of Communication (1962-66), at the Poetry Department of the Literary Institute in Moscow (1971), he graduated from the philological faculty of Minsk Pedagogical Institute (1973).

He worked as a signalman in the North, Siberia and the Far East, as radiomechanic in Minsk television studio. Then he switched to journalism: a literary employee of the newspaper Banner of Youth, the editor of the newsletter Theatrical Minsk, the head of editorial office of the chief literary and drama programs of the Belarusian TV, editor in chief of Krynitsa (Source), the chief editor of the weekly Literature and Art.

From 1998 to 2001  he was a Chairman of the Union of Belarusian Writers. He tried to reach an agreement with Alyaksandr Lukashenka on non-interference in the affairs of culture in return for the lack of criticism  on the part of his colleagues. Openly opposed the then Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Zamyatalin, who supervised the cultural sphere and was hostile to Belarusian culture at hearings in the House of Representatives. As a result, a criminal case was launched against Nyaklyayeu which forced him to leave for Warsaw (1999), where at a press conference, he made a statement against the policy of the Belarusian authorities.

He was head of the Belarusian PEN Centre (2005-09).

In 2010, he founded and headed the public campaign Tell the Truth!, which he represented in the presidential elections. On the election night he was beaten unconscious by unknown people on the way to the peaceful protest. He was kidnapped from the hospital and taken to the KGB jail, he was accusedof staging the riots. He was moved to house arrest on January 29, 2011. After the prosecution changed the charges into ‘organizing activities that breach public order, or participation in them,’ he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years.

In April, 2015 he announced his withdrawal from all the opposition organizations due to the opposition not being able to choose a single candidate who would have participated in the presidential elections in 2015. In May, he founded and headed social movement For the State and the Independence of Belarus.”

He published more than ten books of poetry and prose. In 2007, Nyaklyayeu’s works were taken off the school curriculum.

In the 1980s, Nyaklyayeu became popular as the author of the lyrics to the songs of Pesnyary, Verasy, Syabry, Lika Yalinskaya (Anzhalika Agurbash). Along with Vasil Rainchyk, he wrote the song “Long Live Belarus!”, which could have become the anthem of Belarus.

His wife Volha worked in the technical department of the magazine Krynitsa at a time when Nyaklyayeu was its chief editor. She was not able to find a new job due to the name, she is now a housewife. Their daughter Eva is the manager of cultural projects. She has been living in Finland since the end of the 1990s.