Karatkievich was born in 1930 in Orsha, Viciebsk region. In 1954 he graduated from Kiev University. Later, he completed advanced literature courses (1960), and then cinematography (1962), both in Moscow. Literature then became his main job. His first published work was a poem that appeared in 1951. He published a large number of short stories, in collections entitled "Chazenia", "The Eye of the Typhoon", "From Past Ages", and others. He also wrote the novels "Unforgettable" and "The Dark Castle Olshansky". Karatkievich's most popular work is the novel "The Wild Hunt of King Stakh" Karatkievič also wrote a number of plays, essays, articles, screenplays for short and feature movies. He also wrote some very interesting detective and adventure stories. 