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Iron Curtain by Anne Applebaum – Book of the Year 2013!

Za żelazną kurtyną (Iron Curtain – The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956) – the most recent book by American writer and journalist Anne Applebaum – won Book of the Year 2013, the award given by the literary monthly Magazyn Literacki KSIĄŻKI. The award ceremony was held at Warsaw’s National Library. Alongside Applebaum’s book, the following publications were among the award winners: Wielka księga patriotów polskich (A Great Book of Polish Patriots) and Ostatnie rozdanie (The Last Deal) by Wiesław Myśliwski; Ludzka rzecz (A Human Affair) by Paweł Potoroczyn; Legion (The Legion) by Elżbieta Cherezińska and Obłęd 44 (Madness ‘44) by Piotr Zychowicz. Congratulations!

 Every month the editorial team of Magazyn Literacki KSIĄŻKI under Krzysztof Masłoń selects four titles which deserve the reader’s special attention for their informative, literary or artistic values. The publications are ranked among the Books of the Month. In this way 48 books are chosen, from among which 6 Books of the Year are selected. For more on award-winning authors and books go to: instytutksiazki.pl.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind our readers that we had the pleasure of hosting Anne Applebaum in Krakow during last year’s Conrad Festival.

Pic. Grzegorz Ziemiański, www.fotohuta.pl

Today (the 28th of January) at 6:30 p.m., we would like to invite you to Czuły Barbarzyńca (ul. Powiśle 11) for a series of lectures and presentations organised as part of the academic project entitled: Polish literature after 1989 in light of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory. The guests of today’s meeting will include: Tomasz Warczok, Grzegorz Jankowicz, Piotr Marecki, and Jakub Woynarowski. The organiser is the Korporacja Ha!art Foundation. We highly recommend the event!

Tomasz Warczok – Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of literature – continuations, inspirations, criticism

The lecture concerns the potential ways of developing Bourdieu’s sociology of literature. Specific research strategies and the results of empirical studies by G. Sapiro, P. Casanova, and B. Lahire will be presented in a synthetic manner. The unfinished study of the French field of publishers that Bourdieu was carrying out right before his death will constitute the axis of the lecture. It may be a valuable hint and an inspiration for further explorations of literary fields in various national contexts.

Grzegorz Jankowicz – (Polish) Literary festivals as a tool for the expansion of the literary field

The first European literary festival was organised in the mid-20th century. During the following decades, there were only several similar events of an international reach. It was not until the 1990s, and the post-2000 period in particular, that this form of literature presentation became a popular tool for expanding the literary field. What was the function of the first Polish events of this kind? How did their structure and position within the field change and how has the literary field been using them to develop relations with other fields?

Piotr Marecki – Comparative Textual Media – awareness of the textual medium in the era of the digital humanities

A review of the latest literature and theoretical dictionaries concerning the phenomenon of the materiality of literature, the remediation of print, the textual medium, and the technological look at the process of producing a literary work. A presentation of selected works experimenting with the textual medium.

Jakub Woynarowski – Visual Storytelling: methods of visualising knowledge

The presentation constitutes a review of selected ways of data visualisation discernible in the activities of the representatives of various environments (designers, illustrators, journalists, and scholars) with the use of a diverse arsenal of means (infographics, maps, illustrations, photography, etc.). The thematic scope of the lecture includes both issues from the area of visual communication design and experimental strategies developed by contemporary visual artists.

Filip Springer – reporter and photographer, guest of the last year’s Conrad Festival – was the laureate of the 3rd Ryszard Kapuściński Scholarship Competition for young journalists. The award was granted by the competition jury: Hanna Krall, Sławomir Popowski, Elżbieta Sawicka, Mariusz Szczygieł and Małgorzata Szejnert. Congratulations!

Filip Springer, an archaeologist by education, is one of the greatest prodigies in feature journalism and photography of the last several years.  He debuted in 2011 with a journalist book entitled Miedzianka. Historia Znikania, for which he was nominated to the Nike Literary Award, Ryszard Kapuściński Award and Gdynia 2012 Literary Award. He also wrote Źle Urodzone. Reportaże o architekturze PRL-u (2012) and Zaczyn. O Zofii i Oskarze Hansenach (2013). Within the framework of the Ryszard Kapuściński Scholarship, the author will be working on the book entitled Wszystkie Piętra, concerning the question of exercising the human right to own an apartment in Poland.

The Ryszard Kapuściński Scholarship is granted to young journalists once a year by the Ryszard Kapuściński Herodotus Foundation for completing a journalist project (feature, feature series or journalist book). It is funded, as was the patron’s wish, from part of the author’s fees for his books. The total amount of the scholarship is PLN 30,000. This year, the Foundation received more than 50 applications, from which the jury selected five finalists.

Filip Springer – reporter and photographer, guest of the last year’s Conrad Festival – was the laureate of the 3rd Ryszard Kapuściński Scholarship Competition for young journalists. The award was granted by the competition jury: Hanna Krall, Sławomir Popowski, Elżbieta Sawicka, Mariusz Szczygieł and Małgorzata Szejnert. Congratulations!

Filip Springer, an archaeologist by education, is one of the greatest prodigies in feature journalism and photography of the last several years. He debuted in 2011 with a journalist book entitled Miedzianka. Historia Znikania, for which he was nominated to the Nike Literary Award, Ryszard Kapuściński Award and Gdynia 2012 Literary Award. He also wrote Źle Urodzone. Reportaże o architekturze PRL-u (2012) and Zaczyn. O Zofii i Oskarze Hansenach (2013). Within the framework of the Ryszard Kapuściński Scholarship, the author will be working on the book entitled Wszystkie Piętra, concerning the question of exercising the human right to own an apartment in Poland.

The Ryszard Kapuściński Scholarship is granted to young journalists once a year by the Ryszard Kapuściński Herodotus Foundation for completing a journalist project (feature, feature series or journalist book). It is funded, as was the patron’s wish, from part of the author’s fees for his books. The total amount of the scholarship is PLN 30,000. This year, the Foundation received more than 50 applications, from which the jury selected five finalists.

The 1st of February marks the second anniversary of Wisława Szymborska’s death. In cooperation with cultural institutions, the foundation named after the poet has planned events commemorating the Nobel Prize winner and her works.

On Monday (the 27th of January), we would like to invite everyone to Zakopane for the celebrations commemorating Wisława Szymborska’s stay at the Astoria Stefan Żeromski House of Creative Work, during which the Poet found out that she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. For more information about the event, please visit www.readingmalopolska.pl.

Two days later (Wednesday, the 29th of January), as part of the Irena Jun and Poets series, you will have the opportunity to hear Wisława Szymborska’s poems in the actress’ interpretation at the Studio Theatre. The meeting is announced as an event combining theatre, concert, and performance elements, and the actress’ guest will be Krystyna Dąbrowska, winner of the 1st edition of the Wisława Szymborska Award.

On the 1st of February, an evening dedicated to the memory of Wisława Szymborska has been planned at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCAK) in Krakow. Invited guests – friends of Wisława Szymborska, the Foundation, and MOCAK – will have the chance to hear the Nobel Prize winner’s poems in the interpretation of Juliusz Słowacki Theatre actress Dominika Bednarczyk and Stary Theatre actor Adam Nawojczyk. A word of introduction about Szymborska – the poet and Szymborska – the creator of collages will be delivered by Tadeusz Nyczek. We will also see Lars Helander’s documentary dedicated to the Nobel Prize winner. The finale of the event will include the inauguration of an exhibition of collages created by the Poet. Works presented at the exhibition come from the Poet’s friends’ private collections and the collection of the Wisława Szymborska Foundation.

For more information, please visit instytutksiazki.pl

Pic. Tomasz Wiech

Eminent writer and literary scholar Stefan Chwin won the Jan Heweliusz Academic Award of the City of Gdańsk for 2013 in the humanities and social sciences. The prize was awarded for his outstanding achievements in the field of literary studies and research on the Polish and European culture of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is worth stressing that the prize, awarded since 1987, is considered to be the most important academic and scientific award in Pomerania and is referred to as the Gdańsk Nobel Prize. Congratulations!

Professor Stefan Chwin, connected with the Faculty of Languages of the University of Gdańsk, is a well-known and highly regarded novelist, literary critic, essayist, and literary historian. In his academic research, he focuses on Romantic inspirations in the literature and art of the 14th and 20th centuries, basing his findings on the works of Gombrowicz, Witkacy, Miłosz, Konwicki, and Dostojewski. He received Politykas Passport for his novel Hanemann published in 1995. He is also the winner of many other prestigious awards and distinctions, such as the Kościelski Award, the Andreas-Gryphius Prize, and the Polish PEN Club Award. He lives in Gdańsk.

Photo by Andrzej Rubiś

We would like to invite you to Cafe Szafe (ul. Felicjanek 10) on Saturday (the 25th of January) at 5 p.m. to take part in the first meeting within the Ha!art Seria Czytań [Ha!art’s Reading Series] series.  Ziemowit Szczerek, winner of Polityka’s Passport,  will read excerpts from his latest novel, Księga Duchów Rzeczpospolitej [The Book of the Republic’s Ghosts], Joanna Dziwak and Soren Gauger will present fragments of their debut novels which will be released by Ha!art in 2014, Aleksandra Małecka will read translations of works by Djuna Barnes, a pioneer of the gonzo style so popular in Poland, whose works had not yet been translated into Polish, while Jakub Wydrzyński will read pieces of prose that have not yet been presented to the public for the first time. See you there!

The term Reading Series originates from English. The Reading Series refers both to the form of presenting literature and uniting the writers’ groups. It is high time for the “city of literature” to try out such a form of literary activity. The initiative was undertaken by a group of publishers, editors, and activists connected with the Ha!art publishing house, foundation, magazine and Internet portal. Krakow Reading Series is a series of meetings at which writers, essayists, and translators read excerpts from their works. The project’s authors would like to create space for regular meetings devoted primarily to literature. During the series, the audiences will be able to listen to literary works still in progress, latest pieces from renown authors as well as debutants, who will be selected by the project’s curators.
The Reading Series will be hosted by Piotr Marecki, publisher of Korporacja Ha!art’s prose series. The next meeting within the series will take place in February and will be prepared by Michał Sowiński.

 

Partners of Ha!art’s Reading Series include: Krakow UNESCO City of Literature, the Krakow Festival Office, Popmoderna.pl and Radio17.pl

On the 25th of January at 2:30 p.m., the presentation of Babel – an online anthology of world literature in translation – will take place at Auditorium Maximum. The project will be presented by Rafał Majerek, PhD, of the Institute of Slavic Studies, Jagiellonian University (translator of Slovak literature, among others), and Professor Jacek Baluch (literary scholar, author of limericks, translator of Czech literature) will be the event’s special guest.

Several years ago, an idea for a multilingual online anthology of literature was conceived at the TYPOTEX publishing house in Budapest. Thanks to grants obtained and the work of the originators, the www.babelmatrix.org portal was created, aimed at the presentation of world literature in translation.

Babelmatrix and its related subprojects (e.g. www.visegradliterature.net) constitute a base of existing translations published in book form or in literary magazines.

The latest Babelmatrix subproject (most interesting for translators) is the Babylon website, aimed at presenting works of literature from the countries of the Visegrád Group – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland – and their translations into world languages, as well as world literature in the languages of the above-mentioned countries.

For more information, please visit:

www.babylonsk.net

www.babyloncz.net

www.babilonpl.net

www.babilonhu.net

The Babylon project enjoys support from the International Visegrad Fund.

This coming Thursday (the 23rd of January) at 5 p.m., we would like to invite everyone to the Arteteka of the Regional Public Library (ul. Rajska 12, 1st floor) for a meeting centred around the 43rd issue of the Ha!art magazine – Czas nerdów (Nerd Time). “Limitations stemming from the medium enable us to take a closer look at the history of gaming. And this is a graveyard of ideas. A fertile graveyard at that, or actually a jungle, in which there is a constant battle for turning an old idea into a new one, and the new one into a game-legend. Let’s turn up en masse, let’s do it in Ultra HD” – encourage the organisers. We will discuss the presence and the future of games, listen to passages from the issue, look at flash games, and listen to music. See you there!

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