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You are invited to Café Szafé (10 Felicjanek Street) to the fourth meeting of the Reading Series to be held on Friday 25th April at 7.00 pm. We will read Piotr Płócienniczak’s new feature article from the series Gry Lose/owe (Games of (Lost) Chance). Zbyszek Rokita will read his piece of reportage from a football match (Gonzo). Arkadiusz Wierzba will present his new translation of Egon Bondy’s prose. Łukasz Saturczak will read excerpts from his new, Polish-Ukrainian book written in collaboration with Oleh Belej.
The Reading Series is a way of presenting literature and bringing together the writers’ community. The initiative has been launched by journalists and activists associated with the Ha!art publishing house, foundation, magazine and portal. The Krakow Reading Series consists of regularly held meetings, at which authors and translators read excerpts of their works.
Under the Library Week 8th-15th May 2014, the Jagiellonian Library invites all those interested to a number of events connected with its collection, history and operation. It is a rare opportunity to see places which are usually not accessible to readers. We will visit special collections and the Jagiellonian Library’s storage facilities as well as famliarise ourselves with the work of cataloguers.
Additionally, thanks to cooperation with the Krakow Festival Office, on 16th May at 3.00 pm Leszek Sibila, Head of the Department of Printing, Bookbinding and Krakow Press at the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow will give a lecture entitled Krakow – The Cradle of Rare Book – 19th/20th centuries. The development of Krakow printing in the context of industrial revolution. The lecture will be given in the Jagiellonian Library conference room.
For most events you need to register in advance. Free admission.
Programme details avialable on: www.bj.uj.edu.pl
On Thursday (15th May), at 6.00 pm you are invited to the open meeting with authors of the book Broad Peak. Niebo i piekło at Pod Globusem Bookshop (1 Długa Street). The meeting will be moderated by Łukasz Wojtusik.
Is the Broad Peak tragedy the end of Polish Himalayan mountaineering as we know it? The authors try to find an answer to this question, following the events of the Polish Broad Peak expedition in 2013 step by step. They have dramatic talks with witnesses, friends and families of the victims of the tragic accident. The book is a vivisection of Polish Himalayan mountaineering ethics. The authors also write about the limits of passion. Is climbing a hymn of freedom or should we rather call the world’s highest mountains the Himalayas of egotism?
Dinner with Murakami – a unique literary premiere on 20th May in many Polish cities.
Two early novels of Haruki Murakami, the best known Japanese writer, have been published in Poland. Polish readers will be the first in Europe to read Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973 ( Słuchaj pieśni wiatru / Flipper roku 1973) in their native language. The novels will premiere on 20th May at dozens of Polish restaurants. At that evening hundreds of enthusiasts of Murakami prose will seat at the tables over Marta Gessler’s special menu inspired by the works of the Japanese novelist. It is the first such a grand-scale literary dinner to be held in Poland.
Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973 are Haruki Murakami’s debut novels. The writer introduces his nameless hero and the Rat whom his readers know from his later books. Similarly to his later works, his characters pursue their own identity and make a sort of time travel, recollecting past events. The publication of Murakami’s two early books is an opportunity for discovering his literary roots and exploring his literary path.
On 20th, a day before the official premiere of Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973 in Polish, a special literary dinner with Murakami will be held. Enthusiasts of Murakami’s books and sophisticated gourmets will gather to taste dishes inspired by his books, as the author is also known for culinary interests and fondness of good eating. On the menu prepared by Magda Gessler specially on that occasion, there will be such dishes as ”Kafka Tamura Falling Fish” or ”Weight-Off-My-Mind Soup”. All dishes have been inspired by the Japanese writers’ characters, fiction and atmosphere. The guests will also obtain the Polish version of Haruki Murakami’s Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973 before the official; premiere.
Several dozens of restaurants all over Poland volunteered for the dinner. You can taste the Murakami Menu in Gdańsk, Krakow, Wrocław, Sandomierz, Bydgoszcz, Jelenia Góra, and even in Śrem. In Warsaw the Dinner with Murakami will be offered at Qchnia Artystyczna, Marta Gessler’s restaurant. Dinner with Murakami its the first such culinary and literary event in Poland.
Look for the list of restaurants participating in the event here.
Tomorrow (13th May) at 6.00 pm an open meeting What’s about this writing? will be held.
Everybody is invited to participate in the meeting – those who have had some writing experience and those who don’t write themselves but would like to listen. Maria Kula will talk about what writing experience means for her and how to make writing both fun and helpful. Participants will have the opportunity to share what they write, what is difficult for them and what they enjoy about writing and exchange experience.
The meeting will be held at the Bona Bookshop, 11 Kanonicza Street in Krakow. Maria Kula, a journalist and tutor at writing workshops and courses, will moderate the discussion. Admission is free. For more details visit www.perypetie.com
On Thursday (22nd May), at 7.00 pm, you are invited to Café Szafé (10 Felicjanek Street) for the next – fifth meeting of the Reading Series. During that event Maciej Taranek will read his poetry from the his second volume Impresariat, (Impresario Office), Łukasz Podgórni will read his new texts, Sławomir Shuty will share pieces of his unpublished prose, and Aleksandra Stodolna her translation of excerpts from Jean-Pierre Milovanoff’s novel: Le maître des paons. The Krakow Festival Office is the event’s partner.
Reading series is a way of presenting literature and bringing together the writers’ community. The Krakow Reading Series is a series of regularly held meetings at which writers, essayists and translators read excerpts from their works. One can have the opportunity for becoming acquainted with literary pieces on which authors still work, recent works by renowned authors and by debutants selected by the project curators. The initiative has been launched by journalists and activists associated with the publishing house, foundation, magazine and portal Ha!art.
The next meeting is due soon – in June. This time the Reading Series will be prepared by Sławomir Shuty. Don’t miss out!
On 16th May (Friday) at 5.00 pm the Villa Decius Association invites book lovers to its Literature Salon. This time we will meet one of the prominent female writers of the young generation – Dorota Masłowska. The meeting devoted to her newest autobiographical novel for adults and children Jak zostałam wiedźmą (How I Became a Witch) will be moderated by Katarzyna Kubisiowska. Admission is free.
The event is organised under the project “SAGA – creativity workshops” addressed to senior citizens who wish to develop their writing talents. The SAGA programme has been delivered at Villa Decius since 2012, this year beginning from April to continue to mid-June.
Dorota Masłowska – one of prominent Polish writers of the young generation, sometimes called the enfant terrible of Polish literature. Her first book Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną (White and Red), was known as the “first Polish chav novel”, wining Jerzy Pilch’s and Marcin Świetlicki’s critical acclaim. Wojna… brought its author the Polityka Passport in the literature and nomination for the Nike Literary Award. The novel has been translated into many European languages. In 2005 Masłowska’s second novel Paw królowej (The Queen’s Peacock) saw print. She received the Nike Award for that novel. In 2006 Masłowska published her debut play Dwoje biednych Rumunów mówiących po polsku (A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians), and in 2008 the next drama Między nami dobrze jest (It’s OK between us). In 2014 she released her first music album titled Społeczeństwo jest niemiłe (Society Isn’t Nice). This musical manifesto combines elements of rap, punk rock and dancehall music. In May 2014 her autobiographic novel for adults and children entitled Jak zostałam wiedźmą will see print. In 2005 she received the scholarship from the Villa Decius Association under the w Homines Urbani programme.
SAGA – Creativity Workshop is an educational programme addressed to senior citizens, aimed at education, integration and active occupation for the elderly. During workshops, seminars, work with text, literary games and literary walks, participants acquire practical skills introducing them to the world of their own literary creation. The creative writing workshop is supplemented by open meetings with writers, lectures on theory of literature and contemporary trends in literature, as well as discussions about contemporary and historical literature. We invite literary critics, authors, journalists, publishers and other professionals. There is also a Saga Club run by volunteers who want to share their knowledge, experience and skills. For more information and texts by participants of the three preceding editions of the project visit our website: www.saga.villa.org.pl.
Let’s travel! Not very far, as the school year has not ended yet and your parents must go to work. It’s just a weekend travel to the unknown but in a well known company of friends. Why not to meet next Saturday (10th May) at the Pod Globusem Bookshop at 12.00 noon for the workshop from the series Palcem po globusie, czyli magiczne podróże w Księgarni pod Globusem. (Armchair travel around the globe or magical tours with Pod Globusem Bookshop). This time we are going to Paris, together with little Nicholas, Rufus, Alec and their friends.
We will meet to read the book, admire Paris monuments in old photographs and to take part in art workshops.
Price: PLN 10/child. Notice! Book via e-mail pr@liberglob.pl. First come, first served!
Next Wednesday (7th May) at 6.30 pm you are invited to Krzysztofory Palace for the next meeting from the Krakow Book Salon series . This time we will present the catalogue Świat Lajkonika. Konik na świecie (The Lajkonik’s World. The Hobby Horse) accompanying the Historical Museum’s temporary exhibition under the same title on display at Krzysztofory Palace and the Zwierzyniec House. Magdalena Kwiecińska PhD, Elżbieta Lang, Barbara Rosiek and Andrzej Iwo Szoka will take part in the meeting. The discussion will be moderated by Marcin Baran.
The colourful Lajkonik pageant emanates energy and highlights the inspiring courage of Zwierzyniec bargemen who did not hesitate to struggle against the powerful invader. It is highly unlikely that the legendary battle between the bargemen and the Tatars was a historical fact, but its universal message of civic responsibility of simple folks for their country doesn’t need to be confirmed by additional evidence. Lajkonik is a story, a ritual, a show, a tourist attractions, but first of all one of the city’s founding myth. The beginnings of the rite and the myth belong to the past.
How distant past? Do we find here any traces of Świętowit’s sacred horses worshipped in pagan rites? Is Krakow the only place whose symbol is a half-human, half-horse? Answers to these question and many more to be found at the meeting of the Krakow Book Salon.
Admission is free. Don’t miss out!