He was born in 1921 in the village of Karma, Gomel Region, Belarus, studied construction engineering in a vocational school in 1940, then fought in World War II, taking part in battles near Murmansk and in Poland.

In 1958 Shamiakin, along with some other Belarusian writers, took part in the anti-Boris Pasternak campaign.

[1] In 1991 he confessed that he had never been familiar with Pasternak and never read Doctor Zhivago, but had followed in the steps of older comrades.

[2] In 1963 Shamiakin worked at the United Nations as part of the Belarusian UN delegation.

In 1980 he became the chief editor of the Byelorussian Soviet Encyclopedia and remained in this position until 1992.