She worked as a teacher of history and German language in schools of Mazyr district, a journalist of the newspaper "Prypyatskaya prauda" in Naroŭlia. In 1972 she started working in the "Mayak Kamunizmu" - the local newspaper in Biaroza, Brest region. In 1973-1976 she worked in the Belarusian "Rural Newspaper", 1976-1984 years - headed the essays and journalism depratment of magazine "Nioman". In 1983 she was admitted to the Union of Soviet Writers. Since the beginning of the 2000s, she lived in Italy, France and Germany. Since 2013 she lives in Belarus. Alieksijevič is the author of the books The Unwomanly Face of War (1985), Last Witnesses (1985), Zincy Boys (1989), Chernobyl Prayer (1997), Second hand Time (2013). Sviatlana received Nobel Prize for Literature in 2015.