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In May the Krakow Planty smell spring, the weather is fine and invites us to benefit from the charms of the city. So why not to combine business with pleasure – to take a walk around the flowery park of Krakow and take part in a competition where one can win great book awards.

To get a book , you have nothing else to do than take a creative picture of one of our 50 literary benches from the City Codes project (look  here for bench locations). Then put the photo on the Krakow City of Literature fanpage until 5th Maya 2014, adding with #CityCodes.

For the competition regulations and a list of book prizes click HERE.

Czeslaw Ratka received the Cervantes Institute Award in Poland for his translation of Alonso de Ercilli y Zúñigi’s La Araucana. This years, 11th  award ceremony was held  at the Cervantes Institute in Krakow on the International  Book and Copyright Day.

Czesław Ratka graduated from the Siliesian University of Technology. For a few dozen years or so he has been fascinated with the history America’s discovery and conquest. Extensive reading of texts in this field inspired him and strongly motivated to learn Spanish in order to be able to read original accounts by 16th-century discoverers and conquerors. After some time, Ratka made his first  attempts as translator: a dozen years or so ago he translated  Álvar Núñez Cabez de Vaca’s story  Naufragios. Five years ago he started translating La Araucana.  Thanks to his determination and perseverance he was bring his work to completion, which took him ca. 4500 hours.

La Araucana is a jewel of epic poetry, the Chilean national epopee. Its author, Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, was Spanish and took part in the battles with Araucanians who defended their land which is  today’s Chile.

The Cervantes Institute Award for Literature in Poland is given in recognition of accomplishment and effort of Spanish-language translators. If not for them, one could not imagine foreign literature to become familiar to the country. The importance of Spanish-language literature, its authors, translators and publishers in Poland is particularly noteworthy. So far, the Award has been given to renowned translators in Spanish, including  Carlos Marrodán Casas, Ewa Zaleska, Barbara Jaroszuk, Filip Łobodziński, Wojciech Charchalis, Tomasz Pindel, Marta Szafrańska-Brandt, Janusz Wojcieszak and Piotr Fornelski.

This morning Tadeusz Różewicz, one of the greatest contemporary poets, passed away. The author of the Ocalony [Survivor] poem and dramas such as: Stara kobieta wysiaduje [The Old Lady Sits Waiting], Białe małżeństwo [White Wedding] or Kartoteka [The Card Index] died at the age of 93.

Pic. © Jerzy Olek

With the coming of spring, literature gains stronger visibility in the streets of Krakow. Thanks to  activities under the Krakow City of Literature programme the written word will penetrate the city fabric even more and literature accents will be seen not only in libraries and bookshops but also in the urban space. You will seat on literary benches, take walks following Krakow’s most interesting literary phenomena and contexts. Guided by the literary map you will discover the new image of the city. Those who are keen on competing are recommended the competition to create a font inspired by Wisława Szymborska. Never before has the World Book Day been so eventful!

We spare no effort to see literature present not only where we usually expect it. We want it to permeate our everyday life – says Izabela Helbin, Director of the Krakow Festival Office. The Krakow UNESCO City of Literature is the opportunity for us to  surprise you and to play with literature, so we  encourage every prospective reader to benefit – whether walking along hospital corridors, the Planty park or Krakow side-streets. Keep your literary map at hand. Let’s all celebrate Reading Krakow!

The pleasures of literature will gain new opportunities thanks to City Codes. The project will acquaint the readers with new authors and literary texts. You will hear the voices of fine actors reading excerpts from works by Krakow-based poets and prose writers, as well as recorded voices of  Wisława Szymborska, Czesław Miłosz, Ewa Lipska, Adam Zagajewski, Ryszard Krynicki and other writers.  Under the City Codes, benches around the Planty park have gained new patrons. On the benches you will find plaques on which special QR codes may be seen next to the author’s name. Scanning the code to your tablet or smartphone, you well access the project website (kody.miastoliteratury.pl), which will offer an excerpt from the author’s work, its recording  in Polish and English and the author’s biography. The website also contains an interactive map guiding you through all literature-related sites.

Seeing how enthusiastically The Second Life of a Book is received, and knowing about healing qualities of literature and reading as such, in May ten Krakow hospitals will fix permanent shelves of the Second Life of  Book. Thanks to our campaign, patients will have the opportunity to swap books free of charge, enjoying new stories and escaping, let alone for a moment, from reality to the unreal, fairy-tale world of book. Green, classic-looking, aesthetic shelves of The Second Life of a Book will soon be lined with completely new books graciously offered by cooperating publishing houses: ZNAK, WAM, Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, Insignis and Wydawnictwo Literackie. The publishers supporting our project will offer newly published  books to fill our nice bookshelves.

Walking around Krakow with our special map in hand will be much easier, as it will lead you to the places of interest related with the rich literary life of our city. The Literary Map of Krakow  shows the city in a manner which is easily digestible to a stranger: including the city’s traditions, modern time stories, institutions, sites and landmarks associated with literature. The map is available at  InfoKrakow city information points, bookshops, libraries and all kinds of book-friendly places.

Yet another literary project starts on the last Saturday of May. You are invited to follow traces of literature taking part in unique Krakow walks. If you are ready for a walk, very Saturday we will take you on a trail following the traces of the most interesting streams and contexts of literature. On 31st May we shall set off on the first walk  along the Wisława Szymborska Trail. The next walks will take us on the  Poetry TrailLiterary Nowa Huta (biking tour),  the  Restaurant Realism Trail and the Crime Story Trial. Participation is free. Booking reservation details will follow soon.

We invite students and young artists eager to compete to take part in the competition for the Szymborska typeface. The competition and its outcome, the ”Szymborska” font, will be an added value to commemoration and cultural heritage. It is a rare interdisciplinary and intercultural project, focused on detail, on the beauty of letter and the written word. The design of font inspired by Wisława Szymborska’s poetry should render the rhythm and the meaning of word. The award of PLN 10,000 will be granted. The deadline for applications: 31st October 2014. For more information on the competition look here.

 

The Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, in 1982 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, He died yesterday (17th April) in Mexico, as the local media reported. He was the author of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” One Hundred Years of Solitude, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He was 87 years old.

Gabriel García Márquez (born 1928)a Colombian novelist, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, a prominent figure of magical realism, one of the most famous writers of Latin American prose which became extremely popular in Poland of the 1960s and the 1970s.  He sympathised with the Communist Party of Colombia, so when on his tour of Europe as a journalist, he visited Poland, then under communist rule. This is what he wrote about Krakow: “The arrival of a foreign delegation echoed in all of the city. At 9.00 pm the entrance to the hotel was blocked by a crowd of children asking for autographs. One of the delegates wound a turban of a colourful scarf around his head, which caused a scandal. Two hours later the streets were empty”. The writer was invited to the Jama Michalikowa Café at 45 Floriańska Street (a visit to the café was a must on the itinerary of all visitors to Krakow in the times of the Polish People’s Republic). He wrote about this visit in one of his feature articles: “There was no one young in the room. A man, eighty years old at first glance, danced a polka with a plump women in a flowered dress. Everybody applauded.” A trace of his visit to our city may be found in his most popular novel – One Hundred Years of Solitude, in which we can find ”a gloomy old people’s house in Krakow”.

 

Read more: http://www.instytutksiazki.pl/wydarzenia,aktualnosci,31052,gabriel-garc%C3%ADa-m%C3%A1rquez-nie-zyje.html

 

Malopolska is not only a large number of places associated with life and work of writers, but the here and the now of literature – festivals and awards, which are many in our region. The virtual trail which has just started will guide us through numerous Malopolska awards and festivals connected with literature – the Kościelski Award, the Wisława Szymborska Award, the Rev. Józef Tischner Award, the Kazimierz Wyka Award, and most importantly, the  Conrad and the Miłosz Literature Festivals.

 

In Malopolska we also give awards to best French books, translators and promoters of Polish literature abroad, best poetry books and books of broadly understood humanities. Following the trail of Malopolska awards and festivals we will learn what awards are given to writers in our region, motivating them to further work and increasing the Malopolska’s potential in the field of literature.

 

In a week, on 14th April, we will invite you on the trail of Children’s Literature Publishers and Heroes. For more details follow us on the Reading Malopolska portal!

 

You are invited to join us on Friday 4th April, at 8.00 pm, on the trail of restaurants and bars which inspired our finest writers. You will hear the story of Zwis, Klub Kulturalny, Piękny Pies and Jaszczury. You will learn which club took its name in honour of Poland’s restored independence, where the Office of the master from Świetlicki’s crime novels was located and who made a striptease in Klub Kulturalny.

The organisers will recommend a few dozens of books on Krakow restaurants, e.g. Jerzy Pilch’s, Marcin Świetlicki’s, Sławomir Łuczak’s, Maciej Piotr Prus’ and Gaja Grzegorzewska’s works.

 

Agnieszka Pudełko and Ania Hojwa will be your guides.

We are meeting on 4th April, at 8.00 pm, on the Main Market Square at Mitoraj’s Head.

Tickets: PLN 10
Follow us on the trail!
https://www.facebook.com/events/529926820456794/547489915367151/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity

 

On 10th April the first Ryszard Krynicki’s volume of poetry within the last eight years Haiku. Haiku mistrzów (Haiku. Haiku of Masters) will be released under the Poetry Library of a5 Publishers. 

The volume includes non-published haiku the poet has written over the period of a dozen years or so. They testify to the poet’s growing perfection in this form of poetic expression. The volume also includes translations of Japanese masters. The book is very carefully edited, with subtle texture and on elegant paper. Highly recommended!

http://news.o.pl/2014/03/28/ryszard-krynicki-haiku-haiku-mistrzow-wydawnictwo-a5/

 

The renowned poet, doctor honoris causa of the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, former editor of the poetry department at Dekada Literacka bimonthly – Ewa Lipska – was honoured with her own plaque in the Writers’ Avenue. It is a unique place nearby the Oświęcim library where outstanding authors are commemorated.
Ewa Lipska graduated from the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, but her artistic interests soon turned to poetry. All in all,  she has published more than 20 volumes, including Żywa śmierć (Living Death, 1979), Dom Spokojnej Młodości (Young People’s Home, 1979), Nie o śmierć tutaj chodzi, lecz o biały kordonek (It’s not about Death but about White Filoselle, 1982), Wakacje mizantropa (Misanthrope on Holidays, 1993) and Stypendyści czasu (Scholars of Time).The poet was many times winner Polish and Austrian PEN Club awards. She also received the Kościelski Award.
So far 4 such plaques have been installed in the Alley, promoting the work of Andrzej Stasiuk, Marek Bieńczyk and Janusz Głowacki.

 

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