Starring Helena Majdaniec

This coming Saturday (the 25th of January) at 5 p.m., we would like to invite you to the Czuły Barbarzyńca in Krakow bookstore-cum-cafe to a meeting with writer Rafał Podraza, author of Helena Majdaniec. Jutro będzie dobry dzień. The programme will include the artist’s music, featuring her unknown French songs, among others. Admission is free!

Helena Majdaniec was a great Polish big beat music star. She is often compared to Ada Rusowicz, Kasia Sobczyk, and Karin Stanek. Called “the queen of twist”, her oeuvre includes hits such as: Rudy rydz, Zakochani są wśród nas, Jutro będzie dobry dzień, and Czarny Ali Baba. She was the first to perform the legendary song Tańczące Eurydyki. What was she like? Why did she move to France at the height of her popularity? Rafał Podraza tries to answer these and some other questions in his book Helena Majdaniec. Jutro będzie dobry dzień.

Helena Majdaniec. Jutro będzie dobry dzień is the first publication in Poland dedicated entirely to Helena Majdaniec. The publication was financed by the Department of Culture of the Office of the City of Szczecin. The book comprises fifty lavishly illustrated stories filled with memories of her family, friends, and collaborators. All of them were collected by Rafał Podraza, a Szczecin journalist, writer, and poet, who was bewitched by the artist’s ambivalence. “I wanted to save one of the most important artists of Polish big beat music from oblivion. The book is supposed to bring the singer back to her beloved city, so to speak, which she always missed dearly, which she often talked about in interviews,” says the author.

Musicians from Szczecin, such as: Grażyna Rudecka, Zbigniew Włodarczyk, and Wojciech Rapa talk about Majdaniec. The book also includes memories of: Katarzyna Gaertner, Halina Kunicka, Irena Jarocka, Czesław Niemen, Karin Stanek, Maria Szabłowska, and Marian Lichtman, the drummer for Trubadurzy. A huge archive of previously unpublished photos was also made available for the book by Małgorzata Majdaniec, the singer’s niece.

The publication is unique also because it is accompanied by an album featuring songs recorded by Helena Majdaniec in France. Melodies to which the artist sings in French have never appeared in official circulation in Poland before.

Małgorzata Szpakowska – a cultural expert, literary critic and literary historian – has received the 2013 Kazimierz Wyka Award presented by the Marshal of the Malopolska Region and the Mayor of the City of Krakow. The award ceremony was held today (Friday, the 17^th of January) at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre.

The Kazimierz Wyka Award is an award in the field of literary criticism, essay writing and the history of literature. Małgorzata Szpakowska received the award for her book Wiadomości Literackie.

The laureate is a long time editor of the Dialog monthly magazine, a professor at the Institute of Cultural History of the Department of Polish Philology, University of Warsaw, a member of the Polish Association of Cultural Studies, Polish Writers’ Association, PEN Club and jury of the Jan Józef Lipski Award. She has researched the writings of, amongst others, S. I. Witkiewicz and S. Lem. She is the author of over a dozen books pertaining to the history of culture, manners and anthropology of the body.

She has published, among others: Światopogląd Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza (1976; 1977 Kościelscy Award), O kulturze i znachorach (1983), Dyskusje ze Stanisławem Lemem (1996), Zakorzenieni, wykorzenieni (1997), Chcieć i mieć. Samowiedza obyczajowa w Polsce czasu przemian (nominated for the 2004 NIKE and 2004 Podporiusz awards), Teatr i bruk. Szkice o krytykach teatralnych (2006), she is the co-author and editor of the Obyczaje polskie. Wiek XX w krótkich hasłach (W.A.B. 2008) collection and Antropologia ciała (2008) anthology.

The Kazimierz Wyka Award is highly esteemed both by the theorists of art and literature and the creators themselves. It is currently one of the few awards of this type in Poland. The award was created as a tribute to Professor Kazimierz Wyka, an eminent literary historian, critic, essayist, art connoisseur, cultural animator, humanist characterized by incredible energy and artistic imagination, and creator of the Krakow school of literary criticism. The aim of the award is to distinguish the remarkable literary and artistic achievements of authors whose works reference the values and interests of Professor Kazimierz Wyka. The Kazimierz Wyka Award not only commemorates the great humanist, literary expert and wordsmith, but also reminds us of the importance of humanism at a time which is not overly conducive to this way of life.

The award was presented for the first time in 1980. It was awarded to a leading literary critic, Professor Jerzy Kwiatkowski – a continuator of Kazimierz Wyka’s work and school of literary criticism. So far, the award has been given to: Jerzy Kwiatkowski, Jan Błoński, Franciszek Ziejka, Zbigniew Herbert, Maria Janion, Michał Głowiński, Teresa Walas, Aleksander Fiut, Krzysztof Uniłowski, Michał Paweł Markowski, Krystyna Czerni, and Andrzej Franaszek. Since 2004, the award has been presented by the Marshal of the Malopolska Region and the Mayor of the City of Krakow.

Between the 16th and the 18th of January, a meeting of the TransStar Europe network – an international project aimed at the promotion of translations and literature – will take place in Krakow. Some of the events are dedicated only to the project’s participants, and some – including the Thursday meeting at Villa Decius with writer Yoko Tawada, author of the famous book Flying Soul, who writes in Japanese and German, and the Friday concert, Poetry for Pop Music Lovers, at Alchemia, featuring artists from Berlin: Ulrike Almut Sandig and Marlen Pelny – are open to the public. On Saturday, in turn, you will have the chance to talk to writer Sylwia Chutnik and translators of her books at the Bunkier Cafe.

The 16th of January (Thursday)
7:00 p.m. “Where Europe Begins”. A meeting with Yoko Tawada
Host: Paweł Zarychta
Venue: Villa Decius
Admission free

The 17th of January (Friday)
3:00 p.m. “Translating into Big and Small Languages. Asymmetries” Ryszard Wojnakowski
Lecture
Venue: The Goethe Institute in Krakow
Admission free

7:00 p.m. Poetry for Pop Music Lovers
Ulrike Almut Sandig (Berlin) and Marlen Pelny (Berlin)
Venue: Alchemia
Admission free

The 18th of January (Saturday)
3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Contemporary German Prose, Newly-Translated
“TransStar Europe” project participants read their translations
Host: Sława Lisiecka
Venue: Czuły Barbarzyńca cafe
Admission free

7:00 p.m. Meeting with Sylwia Chutnik and her translators: Magda Włostowska and Zofia Sucharska
Host: Olaf Kühl
Venue: Bunkier Cafe
Admission free

A detailed programme of the event is available at: www.villa.org.pl

For literary Krakow, the year 2013 meant, above all, being granted the prestigious title of UNESCO City of Literature. On the 21^st of October, after nearly three years of efforts, Krakow was included in the network of creative cities in the area of literature as the seventh city in the world. Krakow is the second non-English speaking city apart from Reykjavik and the first in continental Europe in this prestigious and narrow group (Edinburgh, Melbourne, Iowa City, Dublin, Reykjavik, Norwich). Krakow inhabitants and tourists received the news enthusiastically and an interactive phrase made of almost 1.5-meter-tall letters was created in Market Square: Kraków Miasto Literatury UNESCO (Krakow UNESCO City of Literature).

Attention of the international literary community was focused on Krakow already in the first half of the year. In mid-May (between the 14th and the 17th of May), nearly two hundred guests from 50 countries came to Krakow for the Writing Freedom / Pisząc Wolność conference. They mainly included representatives of international institutions: ICORN and PEN International WiPC, as well as creators persecuted for their literary activity. We would like to remind you that since the moment Krakow joined the ICORN International Cities of Refuge Network in 2011, the city played host to Ossetian Marie Amelie deported from Norway, Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, and in 2013, Mostafa Zamaninja, persecuted writer and publisher from Iran,  all of whom stayed at Villa Decius.

This important congress organised as part of the Reading Malopolska programme was combined with the 3^rd Milosz Festival (between the 16^th and the 19^th of May). At the time, Krakow was visited by many outstanding writers and intellectuals, including: Gary Snyder, Michael Krüger, Norman Davies, Duo Duo, Mark Danner, Juan Gelman, Philip Levine, Richard Lourie, Anthony Miłosz, Sjón, Tomasz Salamun, Lew Rubinstein, and Vera Burlak. Also numerous guests from Poland were there, including: Julia Hartwig, Justyna Bargielska, Stefan Chwin, and Adam Zagajewski. During the festival, premiere volumes of verse by seven festival authors were published, along with the long-awaited anthology of Russian poetry, Wdrapałem się na piedestał, edited by Jerzy Czech. At the beginning of the year (on the 18^th of January), Andrzej Franaszek, author of Czesław Miłosz’s biography which premiered during the previous edition of the festival, was honoured with the prestigious Kazimierz Wyka Award, granted for outstanding achievements in essay writing and literary criticism.

Magdalena Piekorz’s film, Widok Krakowa (A View of Krakow), also premiered during the festival. The film focused on literary Krakow and Adam Zagajewski, one of the most outstanding contemporary poets, literary translators, and essayists, honoured with the prestigious Zhongkun literary award, called the “Chinese Nobel Prize”, last year was a special guide to the City of Literature and memories. It is a very atmospheric film, full of archive materials and the poet’s memories of the old masters and fellow writers. The unique atmosphere is emphasised on the screen by Marcin Koszałka’s cinematography.

In June, Krakow was still vibrant with literature and resounded with various languages. Eminent authors from all over the world (including: Durs Grünbein, Edward Hirsch, Gwyneth Lewis, Tomaž Šalamun, Susan Stewart, Jerzy Kronhold, Ryszard Krynicki, Ewa Lipska, and Piotr Sommer) participated in the Krakow Meetings of Poets, invited by Adam Zagajewski. Right after the event, the 3rd World Congress of Translators began, gathering nearly 250 translators representing 41 languages. For the 9th time, the Transatlantyk award was granted. It is awarded to outstanding promoters of Polish literature abroad and this time, the winner was Karol Lesman, translator of Polish literature into Dutch. We ended the month celebrating Ryszard Krynicki’s Jubilee – RK’70 in the company of the poet’s friends, including: Marcin Baran, Marcin Świetlicki, Ewa Lipska, Bronisław Maj, Adam Michnik, Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki, and Adam Zagajewski.

At the beginning of July, the multimedia, interactive Krakow City of Literature portal (www.miastoliteratury.pl) was launched – constituting a regularly updated compendium of knowledge on literary Krakow. Books also appeared on the city’s streets, mainly thanks to the Krakow’s Virtual Library campaign promoting reading with the use of new technologies. Nearly twenty Krakow publishing houses joined forces for the first time, and 60 bus stops in the centre of the city were turned into a QR-code library, offering more than 70 titles. The campaign enjoyed huge interest among readers, who downloaded free passages from e-books more than 10,000 times! During the second edition of the campaign, this time accompanying the Conrad Festival and the Book Fair in Krakow, the reading epidemic spread all over Poland, reaching the country’s 6 largest cities.

In mid-August, sad news arrived from Nice. Sławomir Mrożek, outstanding writer and dramatist, died at 83. He was connected with Krakow for years, he debuted in Dziennik Polski and it was here that his plays were staged. Sławomir Mrożek’s funeral was held on the 17^th of September, and the writer was buried in the National Pantheon in Krakow’s Saint Peter and Paul’s Church.

Towards the end of October, the 5^th edition of the Conrad Festival – the largest literary event in the country began. More than 140 guests from all over the world and a select circle of Polish writers took part in nearly 100 meetings and accompanying events. The Krakow audience had the chance to meet authors such as: Anne Applebaum, Houshang Asadi, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Kiran Desai, Asa Larssson, Claudio Magris, Cees Nooteboom, the Brothers Quay, Peter Sloterdijk, Timothy D. Snyder, and Mostafa Zamaninja, as well as Sylwia Chutnik, Szczepan Twardoch, Marek Bieńczyk, and Joanna Bator. Just as every year, the Festival was held in close cooperation with the largest book fair in Poland, the Book Fair in Krakow, which noted a record number of visitors in 2013 (more than 40,000 visitors). During the fair, the Jan Długosz Prize was traditionally awarded, honouring the author of the best book from the area of the humanities. This time, it went to historian and political scientist Jerzy Holzer, author of Europa zimnej wojny.

On the 16^th of November, the Wisława Szymborska Poetry Award was granted for the first time in history. The international Jury awarded it jointly to poets: Krystyna Dąbrowska and Łukasz Jarosz.

The year 2013 was also a year of important jubilees. Wydawnictwo Literackie, established in 1953, celebrated its 60^th anniversary. This one of the most important publishing houses in the country had many reasons to be happy. They included voices of recognition for Szczepan Twardoch, awarded with the 2012 Polityka’s Passport, coming from far and near, and the important premieres on the Polish publishing market: Witold Gombrowicz’s Kronos and Jerzy Pilch’s Drugi dziennik. The Znak monthly, which has been coming out since 1946, published its 700^th issue.

We also had reasons to celebrate. Our literary projects were recognised and awarded prestigious prizes. The multimedia readingmalopolska.pl portal received the Paper Screen – an award for the best website about books. A jury consisting of Krakow’s cultural journalists awarded two of our projects: the Virtual Library of Publishers and the Second Life of a Book – a cyclical book swap campaign, which enjoys huge popularity, granting them the prestigious Radio Krakow Brand right after the holidays, right on the air of Radio Krakow. As a confirmation of our literary success and spectacular events, Dziennik Polski journalists acknowledged the fact of Krakow being granted the title of a UNESCO City of Literature as the most important and the most prestigious event of the year TOPy i WTOPy Roku (UPs and DOWNs of the Year) in the New Year’s poll. Thank you!

All this would have been hard to accomplish if it wasn’t for the support of our partners. We would like to thank in particular: the Book Institute, the Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation, the Wisława Szymborska Foundation, the City of Literature Foundation, the ZNACZY SIĘ New Art Foundation, Krakow’s publishers, the Regional Public Library and the municipal libraries, the Cervantes Institute, the French Institute, the Goethe Institute, and the Italian Institute, the Villa Decius Association, the International Cultural Centre, as well as Krakow’s bookstores: Lokator, Matras, and Pod Globusem.

We wish all our readers as many opportunities for as many frequent meetings with literature as possible in 2014. Any time and in any corner of the UNESCO City of Literature!

For most people, Krupnicza is a place where they have a chance to park their car in the city centre. Eat dinner. Have coffee with someone. They probably visited the Mehoffer House once on a school trip. They bought a newspaper at a newsagent’s opposite. Those who were late for something ran along the pavement to the tram stop next to Bagatela. Perhaps they even entered the vegetarian bar located at no. 22. They had stuffed cabbage. Croquettes. Once or twice. But they had no idea who used to eat here once, who read their works, who laughed out loud. Who lived one floor above, and a floor above that, and who watched treetops from the attic – this is how Małgorzata I. Niemczyńska’s story about the Writers’ House on ul. Krupnicza 22 begins.

We encourage you to read the entire text.

January 4th marks ten years since Dorota Terakowska passed away. She was an outstanding writer, whose books have been loved by a few generations of young readers.

She was born in Krakow on 30 August 1938. She attended the Musical Secondary School and the Joteyko Secondary School from which she was expelled for lack of discipline. She passed her final high school exam at the High School for Adults in 1955. She defended her MA in sociology in 1965. In the years 1965-1968 she was a researcher at the Institute of Culture and Sociology at Pod Baranami Palace. In the years 1969-1981 she was an editor and journalist at Gazeta Krakowska (she resumed her job in 1991). For many years she was also a contributor to Przekrój (1976-1989) and Zeszyty Prasoznawcze (1983-1989). She was a co-founder and collaborator of Czas Krakowski (1990), as well as Deputy President of the Przekrój Journalists Cooperative (1995-1999). She was a member of the Polish Journalists Association (1971-1981), the Polish Writers Association (which she joined in 1989) and the Union of Polish Stage Authors and Composers (which she joined in 1982).

Dorota Terakowska’s friends and readers who had the opportunity to come closer to her at numerous author’s meetings remember her as a very outgoing and spontaneous person. She was simply Dorota – this is how she wanted to be addressed to whoever she met on her way. She replied to every reader’s letter. She was passionate and eager to pursue her many interests. She was able to draw inspiration from every situation. She adored new challenges. The best evidence for this is the fact that she started her writing career relatively late, after forty, and successfully developed throughout her fifties.

After publishing Guma do żucia (Chewing Gum) (1986), she devoted herself almost entirely to literature. She was an author of books for children and youngsters which are also enjoyed by adults.

She received three awards from the Polish Chapter of IBBY – the International Board on Books for Youngsters – for her novels: Córka czarownic (The Daughter of Witches) (1992), Samotność bogów (Loneliness of Gods) (1998) and Tam gdzie spadają Anioły (Where Angels Fall) (1999), as well as an award for the best-selling book for children in 1995 for Lustro Pana Grymsa (Mirror of Mr Gryms) and for the Best Book Spring ´98 for Samotność bogów. In 1998 she was nominated for a Polityka Passport. Her books Ono (It) and Władca Lewawu (The Ruler of Lewaw) are now set texts at schools.

She was still brimming with creative ideas when she suddenly became terminally ill and passed away on the 4th of January 2004.

Dorota Terakowska was married to the renowned documentary-maker Maciej Szumowski, and the mother of the filmmaker Małgorzata Szumowska and the journalist Katarzyna T. Nowak, whose book Moja mama czarownica. Opowieść o Dorocie Terakowskiej (My Witch Mother. A Story of Dorota Terakowska) saw print in 2005, published by Wydawnictwo Literackie. Dorota Terakowska was also a model for the leading character of Małgorzata Szumowska’s famous film 33 sceny z życia. (33 Scenes from Life).

Dorota was, first of all, a Person. Very well defined, decisive, clear-cut. She was young – in her case counting age in terms of calendar years did not have any sense; I knew her for many years, but she didn’t age, she was simply heading forward. What I liked best about her was that she was always open to novelty, exhibiting her curiosity of the world with nonchalance. She also had a rare feature among writers – she fulfilled herself in face-to-face contacts with her readers. I know that anecdotes and stories about her still circulate among many provincial libraries. They are full of warmth and appreciation, she is still present in them as if she were to re-appear with her new book.

Olga Tokarczuk about Dorota Terakowska

Although 10 years have passed since the writer’s death, her books still enjoy great popularity. Without exaggeration she may be called a phenomenon of the Polish publishing market. Terakowska’s novels are regularly re-issued by Wydawnictwo Literackie and immediately disappear from bookshelves. This confirms the class of her writing and shows it has stood the test of time. Dorota Terakowska was never a fashion victim, neither in her life nor in her books. She wrote about important things, with empathy and understanding.
Photo: from the author’s archive

The journalists of Dziennik Polski have summed up the past year and traditionally granted the titles of TOP (most successful) and WTOPA (least successful) events of the year. We are proud to inform that Krakow becoming a UNESCO City of Literature is seen as the most important and prestigious event of the year. “It was the most important cultural event this year. We should also emphasize that this is only the beginning, an opportunity, not an end,” reads the justification. The five TOP events of the year included two more events co-organized by the Krakow Festival Office: the Divine Comedy Festival and the Off Plus Camera Festival, as well as two events the Office is a partner to — the Unsound Festival and the Wisława Szymborska Literary Award. It is worth noting that the TOP nominations proposed by the Dziennik Polski journalists also included: the International Joseph Conrad Literature Festival, the Sacrum Profanum Festival and the Portishead concert leading up to it, as well as the work of the Krakow Film Commission.

We invite you to read the entire list and the justifications for the various nominations.