Benedikt Dyrlich (born 1950) who celebrated his 70th birthday in spring 2020, is one of the leading Sorbian writers and journalists of the present day. Especially with his bilingual lyric poetry, he has given a lasting stimulus to the literature of this minority over the past fifty years. He was able to confirm his Slav identity thanks to his early and lasting connections with the history and culture of the neighbouring Polish nation and to realize numerous bilateral activities from the Sorbian side. By the resonance of his work in this well-disposed foreign country, he strengthened his position in the East German literary scene before and after the political changes of 1989.