"Zekameron" was written in a pre-trial detention cell. Lawyer Maksim Znak represented the interests of presidential candidates Viktor Babariko and Svetlana Tikhanovskaya during the 2020 election campaign in Belarus. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges including "conspiracy to seize power by unconstitutional means." Dostoevsky wrote: "In a penal life there is one torment that is perhaps stronger than all the others. This is: forced cohabitation ... Such people come to prison that not everyone would want to live with them." Maksim Znak spoke about his "cohabitation" with his neighbors in captivity. He is interested in all of them, he listens to everyone, helps everyone as much as he can. He has a happy character and a keen eye: even in the most dramatic situations, he notices glimpses of humor, hope and optimism. "Zekameron" is Maksim's first experience of prose. Will there be a sequel? Mayakovsky writes after a year in Butyrka: "The most important time for me... I threw myself into fiction." But he writes this already when he is free - let us wish the same to Maxim Znak.