UNESCO City of Literature

Following the speculations that have appeared about the allegedly confirmed date of announcing Krakow a UNESCO City of Literature, I would like to inform everyone that I am personally in touch with persons responsible for awarding the title at UNESCO and no date has yet been determined.

Krakow’s application has undergone the evaluation procedure and received only positive opinions of experts. I was assured that the decisions concerning the matter will be made next week.

Magdalena Sroka
Deputy Mayor of the City of Krakow
for Culture and Promotion of the City

If someone thinks that the Conrad Festival is a paradise for enthusiasts of reading only, they are mistaken. The programme of this year’s edition abounds in attractions from various areas of culture: from film screenings, through concerts and workshops, to exhibitions. When it comes to exhibitions, there are as many as 16. And which is especially pleasing: Krakow libraries got involved in the festival and are organising a number of their own exhibitions.

The first two ones will be open from Tuesday already at the branches of the Podgórze Public Library. Branch no. 22 (ul. Gołaśka 13/1)will present The Polish Masters of Children’s Book Illustration – an exhibition introducing the figures and oeuvre of artists such as: Jan Marcin Szancer, Bohdan Butenko, Zbigniew Rychlicki, and Edward Lutczyn. The exhibition at branch no. 16 (ul.Teligi 24) – A Different World of Illustration – presents the works of: Bohdan Butenko, Elżbieta Gaudasińska, Zbigniew Rychlicki, Olga Siemaszko, Andrzej Strumiłło, Janusz Stanny, and Jan Marcin Szancer.

As many as two vernissages have been planned for this coming Friday (the 18th of October). The Nowa Huta Public Library (os. Stalowe 12) will open an exhibition entitled The Magical World of Jan Marcin Szancer’s Illustrations (it will last until the end of November). And at 6:00 p.m., we would like to invite you to the Gallery of the ZNACZY SIĘ New Art Foundation (ul. Kościuszki 37), to the vernissage of the exhibition entitled A Well-Designed Book – Let’s Begin with Children (it will last until the 10th of November). A competition under this title has been organised by the Katowice Academy of Fine Arts since 2008. It is an interesting example of what goes on at Polish and international higher education institutions in terms of designing books for children. The exhibition of the 3rd edition of the competition will present several dozen designs of books illustrated in an interesting and innovative manner and designed by the youngest generation of illustrators, only just entering the publishing market. The presented designs have been selected from among hundreds of submissions by recognised illustrators, book designers, publishers, and… children.

From the first day of the Conrad Festival, art will reign supreme at Pałac Pod Baranami, where the Festival Centre is located, and at Pracownia Pod Baranami situated in the palace’s basement. The programme includes an exhibition of collages created by Franz Falckenhaus – creator of the unique poster for this year’s Conrad Festival, and a presentation of posters promoting reading created by Jan Bajtlik (the presentation entitled How to Encourage a Child to Read and a tour of the exhibition with its author have been planned for the 25th of October at 12:30 p.m.). The Krowodrza Public Library (ul. Królewska 59) will present an exhibition of Zbigniew Rychlicki’s illustrations for stories and cartoons such as: Miś Uszatek, Plastuś, and Słoń Dominik; and Bunkier Sztuki – an exhibition initiating the activity of the Small Institute of Polish Illustration, which constitutes an attempt at taking a new look at the works of Bohdan Butenko, one of the best-known and most-awarded Polish graphic artists in the world. Bohdan Butenko himself will also meet with the audience in Krakow. We know that many of you are looking forward to this!

The Szara Kamienica Gallery (Rynek Główny 6) is organising an exhibition entitled Conspirators of Imagination. It will present illustrations for four books by Agnieszka Taborska, writer and expert in surrealism: Selena Kimball’s collages for Senny żywot Leonory de la Cruz (The Dreamy Life of Leonora de la Cruz) and Nieokończone życie Phoebe Hicks (The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks; coming out at the time of the Conrad Festival), Mieczysław Wasilewski’s drawings for Wieloryb, czyli przypadek obiektywny (The Whale, or: Objective Coincidence), and Andrzej Klimowski’s linocuts for Nie tak jak w raju (Not Like in Paradise). The Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology has prepared an exhibition entitled Max Ernst. Lover of Imagination. Books and Drawings. It is an exhibition of Max Ernst’s (1891-1976) book illustrations and drawings prepared by Stuttgart’s Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen. It presents 196 drawings that this outstanding artist created for works by: Paul Eluard, Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, Franz Kafka, Kurt Schwitters, Antoin Artaud, Lewis Carroll, and texts by Andre Breton, leader of the surrealist movement and author of a surrealist manifesto, as well as collage books, such as: Histoire naturelle (1926), La femme 100 tête (1929), and Rêve d’une petite fille qui volt entrer au Carmel (1930). The exhibition documents Ernst’s works from the surrealist period in particular, but it also includes the period of Dadaism and single drawings from the later period, dominated by cubist and geometric elements.

Wydawnictwo Literackie has prepared a real treat for the enthusiasts of Witold Gombrowicz’s work. On the 24th of October, readers will have the one and only opportunity to see Kronos just as Rita Gombrowicz discovered it years ago. A special night presentation of the manuscripts of the text, the premiere of which provoked a real storm in the spring of 2013. It will take place in the seat of Wydawnictwo Literackie on ul. Długa 1. The event begins at 8:00 p.m. The presentation ends at midnight.

But there is more. The Śródmieście Public Library (branch no. 16, al. Pokoju 33) invites everyone to the exhibition entitled Polish Book Artists – Józef Wilkoń’s Inspirations from Nature (opening on the 25th of October), the Arteteka of the Regional Public Library (ul. Rajska 12) – to the exhibition of The Son of His Father presenting original cartoon boards created by Nicolas Presl, and the Lokator bookstore (ul. Mostowa 1) – to the PIO Book of Anxiety exhibition.

We would also like to remind you that during the festival, an installation called Podstawa (The Base) created by Martyna Wolna – winner of this year’s competition for the most interesting project inspired by a book – will be exhibited in the Market Square.

14 lucky ones have already received e-mails with a confirmation of an invitation to workshops with Marek Krajewski. For four days (between the 24th and the 27th of October), they will plumb the mysteries of the art of writing under the master’s tutelage at the Arteteka of the Regional Library. Together with the ZNACZY SIĘ New Art Foundation, we would also like to invite all those who do not manage to take part in the classes, as well as all the enthusiasts of Marek Krajewski’s work, to his lecture entitled A Writer’s Workshop on Sunday (the 27th of October) at 4:30 p.m. See you at the Festival Centre at Pałac Pod Baranami.

Already on the first day of the Conrad Festival, a great event awaits us – a meeting with Peter Sloterdijk, German philosopher, translator, specialist in cultural studies, and essayist, considered to be one of the most influential European thinkers. The Los Angeles Review of Books has recently written that he is probably the most erudite person living on earth today. The conversation with Sloterdijk will be conducted by Professor Michał Paweł Markowski. The event will take place on Monday (the 21st of October) at 7:30 p.m. at the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology (ul. Konopnickiej 26). Admission is free!

On an everyday basis, Sloterdijk – disciple of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, continuator of the philosophical tradition of the Frankfurt School – is the President of the Academy of Fine Arts at the Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. He is called the “new controversial philosopher of the mass media era”. His lecture entitled Rules of the Human Zoo, concerning the probability of using biotechnology to create a new “improved” human, delivered in 1999, went down in history as one of the greatest intellectual scandals of post-war Germany and began his dispute with Jürgen Habermas. His most important work is Critique of Cynical Reason from 1983 (published in Poland in 2008). His works published in Poland also include: Die Verachtung der Massen (2003), The Crystal Palace (2011), and Rage and Time (2011).

The readingmalopolska.pl portal is competing for Paper Screen 2013 – an award for the best website about books. We were nominated in the FORM category – for the manner of content presentation promoting navigation, ease of use, interactivity, and non-standard graphic and functional form. The final success depends on you – the winner will be determined based on the arithmetic mean of votes cast by the competition’s chapter, its organisers, and Internet users. We will get to know the winner on the 24th of October. We encourage you to vote!

Paper Screen is a prize awarded since 2007 to the best websites that promote books and reading: websites of publishing houses, bookstores, libraries, organisations popularising reading, as well as cultural portals, blogs, and websites run by individuals. The previous winners of include: BiuroLiterackie.pl (2007), artPAPIER.com (2008), Niedoczytania.pl (2009), Ryms.pl (2010), Wywrota.pl (2011), and Xiegarnia.pl (2012).

This year, the Paper Screen will be awarded in two categories: CONTENT (directed to Facebook groups, blogs, fan pages, websites of publishing houses, profiled bookstores, libraries, and cultural portals) and FORM, in which the readingmalopolska.pl portal is nominated, among others.

Just like every year, the Paper Screen competition accompanies the Book Fair in Krakow.

Organisers: the NADwyraz Foundation (www.nadwyraz.pl), the Wydawca monthly (www.wydawca.com.pl)

Partners: Targi w Krakowie, Polish Book Publishers’ Association, Xiegarnia.pl

Sponsors: Wydawnictwo Literackie, Wydawnictwo MG, Wydawnictw Zysk i S-ka, Audioteka.pl, Audiobook.pl, Legimi

Such a time is every reader’s dream. In the coming days, a real celebration of literature awaits us – not only the Conrad Festival and the Book Fair, but also as many as five editions of The Second Life of a Book. The book swap at Gołębnik already began yesterday.

After the summer break and passed exams, students of the Faculty of Polish Studies returned with new energy and this year’s last but one book swap. The fourth edition of The Second Life of a Book at Gołębnik attracted more than 300 people, and nearly 200 books gained new owners.

And from Monday, we would like to invite you to the special editions of the campaign accompanying the Conrad Festival and the Book Fair. Between the 21st and the 27th of October, you will find The Second Life of a Book stall at the Festival Centre at Pałac pod Baranami (Rynek Główny 27) every day between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. and at the Galeria Krakowska shopping centre on ul. Pawia 5 (10 a.m. -6 p.m.). Starting on the 24th of October, we also encourage you to visit our stand no. A28 at the 17th Book Fair at the Fair hall in Krakow (ul. Centralna 41a). PLEASE NOTE: those who do not find any books of interest at Galeria Krakowska or the Festival Centre, will also be able to search for books available for exchange at the Book Fair and vice versa. Valid only upon presenting a voucher received at registration.

And for dessert: this year’s second cookbook and culinary magazine swap as part of the NajedzeniFest Festival! The event will take place traditionally at Forum Przestrzenie (ul. Konopnickiej 28) on Sunday, the 27th of October. We begin at 11 a.m. See you there!

The Second Life of a Book is a joint campaign of the Krakow Festival Office and Bookeriada.pl. Everyone can take part in the free book swap; just bring at least one book and a maximum of ten books if they are in good condition. Books published till 1995 can be swapped only for those that were also published till that year, whereas newer books (published after 1995) can be swapped for every book available during the given book swap. Find out more about the campaign at: www.drugiezycieksiazki.pl. So far, 17 events helped over 5,000 people swap books, with nearly 15,000 books finding new owners. Over 800 volumes (out of 2,300 books donated to libraries by campaign participants) ended up at the Regional Public Library, with 124 more going to the Bibliopaths’ Zone.

Media partners: RMF Classic and Fragile.
Partners: Galeria Krakowska, Strefa Wolnego Czytania, Klubokawiarnia likeKonik

After the huge success of the first holiday edition, the Virtual Library of Publishers  is returning with even more panache! As of yesterday, you can find the best books by guests of the Conrad Festival and the Krakow Book Fair on almost 300 citylights in the largest cities of Poland. Scan the QR codes and download free passages. And if you like them – buy e-books from partner distributors of the Virtual Library: Publio, Woblink, Virtualo, and Koobe. They have prepared free e-books and readers, as well as book vouchers and large discounts.

“This is the second edition of the campaign,” says Izabela Helbin, Director of the Krakow Festival Office. “The first one, organised during the holidays, only covered Krakow. After a huge success (more than 10,000 downloaded book passages), we decided to extend it to cover all of Poland. We hope that readers will love it.”

For the first time in history nearly thirty publishing houses from all over the country and four largest e-book distributors have joined forces in order to present the best books of the year to readers and, at the same time, to promote reading with the use of modern technologies. We have the latest publications (we are the first in Poland to present a passage from Janusz Głowacki’s latest book, we also offer you passages from Jan Jakub Kolski’s and Tymon Tymański’s premiering books), crime novels (Åsa Larsson, Yrsa Sigurdardottir), comic books (Nicolas Presl), radio dramas (Dumanowski and Bruno Schulz), children’s books, pieces of reportage (by Filip Springer or the Made in Poland anthology, among others), biographies (of Steve Jobs and The Beatles), as well poetry and belles-lettres (including Julia Hartwig’s and Szczepan Twardoch’s books) for you.

The campaign is organised by the Krakow Festival Office. Its partners include: the Book Institute, as well as the following publishing houses and organisations: a5, Agora, Bona, Czarne, Dodo Editor, the Women’s Space Foundation, Insignis Media, Karakter, Koobe, Krytyka Polityczna, Lokator, Muza, New Eastern Europe, Noir sur Blanc, Radio Kraków, Sine Qua Non, Skrzat, the Polish Writers’ Association, Świat Książki, W.A.B., WAM, Wielka Litera, Wydawnictwo Akademickie Dialog, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Wydawnictwo M, Wydawnictwo Otwarte, Znak, Znak Literanova, and Znak Emotikon. The campaign’s patrons are: Polish Radio 3 and the Malemen magazine.

The Virtual Library of Publishers is one of the series of campaigns carried out by the Krakow Festival Office in order to promote the literary image of the city. The Krakow Festival Office organises two large literary festivals (the annual Conrad Festival and the biennial Czesław Miłosz Festival), eagerly contributes to initiatives of publishing houses which have their offices in Krakow, closely cooperates with the Book Fair – considered to be the most important event for the publishing industry; and supports all initiatives aimed at bringing the residents of Krakow and tourists closer to literature. Apart from that, within the scope of the Reading Malopolska  programme, the Krakow Festival Office carries out a number of promotional activities aimed at emphasising the literary potential of the region. Within the past year alone, the Krakow Festival Office has also organised two large international conferences which attracted the greatest figures of the literary world to Krakow, including representatives of UNESCO Cities of Literature, as well as members of PEN International and ICORN. In addition to that, an interactive multimedia Internet portal – readingmalopolska.pl – was created as a compendium of knowledge on literary attractions of the region. For more than two years, in co-operation with the Bookeriada.pl portal, the Krakow Festival Office has organised The Second Life of a Book – a huge free book swap campaign that has gained the readers’ recognition and attracts hundreds of reading enthusiasts every month. It is no coincidence that Krakow was the first city in Poland to mark Seats for Readers in public transportation vehicles; this was done to celebrate the Miłosz Year two years ago.

Another edition of the travelling Rymoliryktando – a national spelling test with obstacles, created by acknowledged lyricist of the young generation, Łukasz L.U.C Rostkowski, will take place next week, on Saturday, the 26th of October. This time, brave participants will rack their brains over orthographic nuances… at the Stary Kleparz marketplace in Krakow.

The decision of where this year’s edition of the street art spelling test will take place was made by Krakow inhabitants themselves – they submitted suggestions for places in their city. Among all the submitted suggestions, the Stary Kleparz marketplace turned out to be the most interesting, and it is here, between the stalls, that brave participants will take on the challenge posed by two texts, very difficult stylistically and orthographically. Apart from Łukasz L.U.C Rostkowski’s spelling test abounding in obstacles, participants will have to write down a text prepared by Aneta Załazińska, PhD, from the Faculty of Polish Studies of Jagiellonian University. The task will definitely not be an easy one, but it is worth taking up the challenge, as money prizes of PLN 10,000, PLN 5,000, and PLN 3,000, as well as special Rymolirylaur statuettes await the winners.

After completing the spelling tests, the participants will move to the Malopolska Garden of Arts, where waiting for the results, they will take part in a debate on the language of the media entitled How many Polands do we live in?

This year’s edition of Rymoliryktando will end with a jam session with the participation of outstanding Polish musicians and lyricists. One of the most important figures of the Polish Yass scene, frontman of the legendary groups Miłość and Kury, Tymon Tymański; lady of the Polish music scene – Krystyna Prońko; Gdańsk hip-hop artist Buka; and extraordinary artist Jacek Szymkiewicz aka Budyń – frontman and founder of the legendary Pogodno band will appear on stage. All of the artists will perform to the accompaniment of the L.U.C ENSEMBLE, i.e. an orchestra made up of Łukasz L.U.C Rostkowski and his musicians: Adam Lepka, Olga Kwiatek, Bożena Rodzeń-Jarosz, Kuba Olejnik, Maciej Mazurek, Marek Pędziwiatr, and Bartek Niebielecki.

However, before Krakow inhabitants will take up the spelling test challenge, this coming Saturday (the 19th of October), we would like to invite you to the Market Square for a unique happening. At high noon, a huge scale will be set up next to the monument to Adam Mickiewicz, and everyone will have the opportunity to weigh a selected word, using special weights shaped like letters. Krakow inhabitants will also try to hold an enormous word saying “WORDS” in the air for six hours (from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). As the organisers of the event explain, they want to emphasise the main message of the event in an amusing and literal manner: attention to reliability in everyday life. They want to show passers-by that words have power and weight, and that it is often very hard to keep one’s word. Each participant of the ambient campaigns will receive an invitation to Rymoliryktando and its accompanying concerts and debate.

This year’s third edition of Rymoliryktando will take place in cooperation with the Krakow Festival Office and under honorary patronage of the Council for the Polish Language and the Faculty of Polish Studies of Jagiellonian University. The event begins at 2 p.m. at the Stary Kleparz marketplace (Rynek Kleparski 14). Registration of participants will be open from 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. L.U.C’s spelling test will be broadcast by the TVN24 channel and Polish Radio 1.

For more information, please visit: www.rymoliryktando.pl

In connection with poet Marcin Baran turning 50, the EMG Publishing House would like to wish him another 50 years and invite everyone to a birthday party combined with the Krakow premiere of the Zebrane. Wiersze i poematy 1983-2013 volume. The birthday evening attended by the celebrating poet will take place on the 24th of October (Thursday) at the Piękny Pies club (ul. Bożego Ciała 9). The meeting will be hosted by Marcin Świetlicki and Ireneusz Grin. The event begins at 8 p.m. Don’t miss it!