Vasil Uladzimiravič Bykaŭ (often spelled Vasil Bykov, Belarusian: Васі́ль Уладзі́міравіч Бы́каў, Russian: Василь Влади́мирович Быков) (19 June 1924 – 22 June 2003) was a prolific Soviet and Belarusian author of novels and novellas about World War II and a significant figure in Soviet and Belarusian literature and civic thought. His work earned him endorsements for the Nobel Prize nomination from, among others, Nobel Prize laureates Joseph Brodsky and Czesław Miłosz.