Karalina was born and lived in Minsk, Belarus, where she studied at the State University of Economics. She worked first as a co-editor of the Unija journal and later at the Mastackaja Litaratura Publishing House. The work in publishing and a love of literature eventually led her to a career in Biblical Studies. As a result, she came to study in London, and later in Paris and Sheffield, and holds an STL and a PhD in Biblical Studies. She is now based in Surrey and lectures at Heythrop College in London.
Having lived abroad for more than 20 years, Karalina has not lost her links with Belarusian culture. She sits on the Council of the Anglo-Belarusian Society and is a trustee of the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library in London. In both of these roles, she helps to coordinate various projects, organizing literary events, conferences and festivals, and managing publications. For two years she used to run a Belarusian Saturday school at the Belarusian Catholic Mission in North London.
Since her moving to London, Karalina worked with IB Belarusian A: Literature for many years and recently started offering support in IB Belarusian Literature A to students at United World College of Southeast Asia – IB World School in Singapore. She enjoys helping students to engage with texts, discovering or recreating their meaning, and to appreciate the richness of the literature that exists in their native language.
She is married to Jim and has two lovely daughters, Eileen and Eva, who have been brought up bilingual and share her love of all things Belarusian.
