Dear reader, You have now received the 1st issue of CONTACTS AND DIALOGUES JOURNAL, its English-language version. It was in 1996 that the International Association of Belarusian Studies launched its original Belarusian version, which turned out to be the first-ever periodical on cultural studies in Belarus. CONTACTS AND DIALOGUES feature different aspects of the country's general and political histojry, and discuss burning issues of Belarusian identity from the perspective of the history of the Belarusian language and literature and to some extent, of music and visual arts.