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We doubt if there is still someone who does not know about it! From the distant Tatra valleys to the seaside resorts, the happy news that Krakow joined the UNESCO Cities of Literature network was spread far and wide. How could it not be? Literary Krakow has served as an epicenter of Polish literature and writing for centuries and now, it has been also recognized for its contemporary and vibrant literary community and activities as well with the prestigious UNESCO title!
Therefore, on Oct. 19 on Krakow’s Main Market we will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the city’s membership in a wonderful literary cohort that includes: Edinburgh, Melbourne, Dublin, Iowa City, Reykjavik and Norwich.
So let’s spread the word and joy all around the world with hundreds of multi-colored balloons proclaiming the best literary news!
Balloons will go up into the sky from the Town Hall on Sunday 19 October at 12:00.
This is not the end of the attractions! We’ll welcome back to the Main Square the colorful life-sized letters that will read: Krakow UNESCO City of Literature!
More information about the title of Krakow UNESCO City of Literature can be found on the website: http://krakowcityofliterature.com/
The Conrad Festival starts in several days. This literary celebration would not be complete without Literary Walks through Krakow. We invite you on two walks during the Festival, which will unveil the crime mysteries of Krakow’s side streets and the locations in Joseph Conrad’s home city that were crucial for his works. You are welcome to join the walks on the last weekend of the Festival – October 25 and 26.
The Crime Fiction Trail leads us to the dark side of Krakow as portrayed in contemporary literature. We will be taken back to the Middle Ages or the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to learn about the pre- and post-war crimes of this city. We will wander around the backstreets where blood was spilt, we will seek out the lairs of literary criminals and the workplaces of law enforcement officers who chased them. Which serial killer had a modus operandi for leaving little notes near the bodies of their victims? And which one preferred embroidered tissues? Can an eatery serve as a detective agency? What is the Badeni Report about? What secret is Kroke hiding? We will try to answer these and other questions during the walk. Brace yourselves for plenty of blood-curdling stories that never end well.
On the day the First World War broke out (July 28, 1914), Joseph Conrad returned to his home city of Krakow. After a 40-year absence, the writer wished to visit the city where he grew up and whence he set out to begin his formative years, first as a sailor and later a prosaist. He arrived at Krakow’s railway station around 4 o’clock. The turmoil of war had not yet reached the city, so Conrad, unaware of what was to come, went to the Grand Hotel to leave his luggage and then went for a walk with his son Borys and Józef Retinger. He visited all the places that had played an important role in his early life. He was convinced that the city had not changed a jot, that everything had stayed the same. The following morning, when armies marched out into the streets, Conrad realised that the former day’s walk had not been a nostalgic wander through his memories, but a journey towards the heart of darkness, which had always lain in the very core of his home city rather than in remote Africa.
We invite all those interested to take a stroll around Krakow in the footsteps of Conrad. We will recreate the entire route the writer took on 28 July 1914, and at the same time, we will re-tell the story of his return, superimposed on the story in his most famous work, The Heart of Darkness.
Participation in the literary walks is free of charge, but requires registration. All those interested are requested to send an e-mail to: spacery@miastoliteratury.pl. Separate registration is required for each walk. Please write “Joseph Conrad” in the message title.
The a5 publishing house and the Voivodeship Public Library in Krakow have the pleasure to invite you to the meeting with Adam Zagajewski on the publication of his new book entitled Asymetria (Asymmetry). One of the most prominent Polish contemporary poets has released a volume which confirms his artistic class and the highest standard of his poetry skills. The readers will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the poet’s new work on Thursday, 16th October, at 6.00 pm in the Arteteka, 12 Rajska Street (entry from Szujskiego Street). The meeting will be moderated by Paweł Próchniak.
Asymetria is a volume of poems full of space, air and sun, recalling the memories of people and places. Some places are just fleeting moments, like postcards from holidays, some are important like the birthplace. The book is also filled with memories of people (some poems are already known, like the one devoted to Ruth Buczyńska), and contains the moving sketches for the portrait of the parents.
Admission to the meeting is free.
The Iowa City Book Festival celebrates the 75th anniversary of the publication of Finnegans Wake – James Joyce’s last novel. Tomorrow, at the festival organized by Iowa City – one of the seven UNESCO Cities of Literature – a series of short films based on excerpts from the Irish writer’s novels will be screened. They include the Krakow episode, which premiered in Dublin on 14th May. After the showing, a meeting devoted to the adaptation of Joyce’s prose for the stage will be held.
The author of the concept and the film director is Michał Buszewicz, one of the most talented drama writers of the young generation. Together with Magda Szpecht, Kuba Laskowski and Ludwik Kamiński, whom Buszewicz had invited to cooperate, they filmed an excerpt from the novel. Among others, Lesław and Wacław Janicki twin brothers, once famous actors of Tadeusz Kantor’s theatre (now running a jeweler’s workshop in Krakow), along with Jaśmina Polak, known from the film Hardkor Disco, appeared on screen. The filming took place at Wawel Cathedral, the unfinished tower block in Krakow known as Szkieletor, and at the Janicki brothers’ workshop. The excerpt from the novel which was adapted for the screen in Krakow refers to the famous legend about the 16th-century pirate queen, Grace O’Malley, whom Lord Howth refused entry to the castle at dinner.
As each year, Krakow will become the unquestionable capital of book, receiving eminent guests – the biggest stars of Polish and world literature – who are coming to the 6th International Joseph Conrad Literature Festival and the 18th International Book Fair in Krakow. This year, the Krakow feast of literature takes a new dimension: on 21st October, we will celebrate the 1st anniversary of the granting of the “UNESCO’s City of Literature” prestigious title to Krakow.
This exceptional atmosphere and the omnipresence of books, including e-books, will be felt even stronger thanks to the October round of the Czytaj KRK! campaign enabling, one more time, the free lending of 10 bestselling e-books. With the help of the cooperation of the largest publishing houses in the country, the autumn e-shelf will be filled with bestsellers by such authors as Raja Shehadeh, Jacek Dukaj, Marek Krajewski, Marek Niedźwiecki, Vincent V. Severski or Elżbieta Cherezińska.
This time, QR codes enabling the free lending of e-books can be found in 100 public transport vehicles in Krakow. The QR codes will also appear traditionally in nearly 100 most important literary places of Krakow – libraries, cultural institutions as well as cafeterias and clubs.
To be able to use the Czytaj KRK! mobile application, you just need a smart phone or a tablet equipped with Android or iOS operational system. Similarly to the previous round, also this time the down-loaded e-books will remain active for 30 days. Czytaj KRK! is an unprecedented joint project of the Krakow Festival Office and Woblink, a Polish leading e-book platform.
The books offered in the October round are:
Dymna by Elżbieta Baniewicz
Nielegalni by Vincent Severski
Dzielnica obiecana by Paweł Majka
Dziennik czasu okupacji (English original title: Occupation Diaries) by Raja Shehadeh
Włosi. Życie to teatr by Maciej A. Brzozowski
Radiota by Marek Niedźwiecki
Republika piratów (English original title: The Republic of Pirates)by Colin Woodard
Lód by Jacek Dukaj
W otchłani mroku by Marek Krajewski
Korona śniegu i krwi by Elżbieta Cherezińska
We remind you that people outside Krakow, unable to scan QR codes from data carriers available in the city, can read for free excerpts from all books presented in this round, thanks to the Czytaj KRK! application. At www.qr.miastoliteratury.pl, you will find all information concerning the campaign and the list of books available.
Czytaj KRK! is an expansion of the 2013 project known as the Virtual Library of Krakow. It involved placing posters that resembled full bookcases at bus and tram stops in six Polish cities, featuring QR codes that, after having been scanned, allowed to download free excerpts from nearly 70 latest and bestselling books. This unprecedented campaign, aimed at the promotion of reading with the use of modern technologies, attracted the attention of major national media and readers. The free excerpts had nearly 20 000 downloads in total.
The publishers participating in the second round of the campaign are: Czarna Owca, Insignis, Karakter, Marginesy, Muza, Wielka Litera, WSQN, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Znak and Zysk i S-ka.
The books are recommended by the campaign’s media patrons: LubimyCzytać.pl web portal, Radio Kraków and the Dziennik Polski daily.
On Friday (26th September) 6 p.m., you are invited to the Ha!art Corporation Bookshop (3a Szczepański Square) to attend the next episode of the Reading Series. The presence of Piotr Macierzyński, laureate of many Polish literary competitions, will add splendour to this September meeting at Ha!art. The poet will read his works in Polish and Scotia Gilroy will present the poems in translation. She will also read excerpts from Ziemowit Szczerek’s Przyjdzie Mordor i nas zje (Mordor Will Come and Eat Us: A Confidential History of the Slavs) in English. Jan Bińczycki will put forward a citizens’ draft bill against scribbling. Another guest of the meeting will be Leszek Onak, an Internet publisher and promoter of new literary trends as well as the co-founder of the web portals Niedoczytania.pl and Liternet.pl. He will present to the audience his multimedia cyber-poetic compositions. The September episode of the Reading Series will be moderated by Adam Ladziński. You are heartily invited!
The Polish name of the project, Seria Czytań, is a calque from the English language. Reading series means a form of presenting literature and, at the same time, a way of uniting literary communities. It is high time the “city of literature” tried out this formula of organizing literary life. The initiators of the project are the men and women editors and activists gathered around the Ha!art publishing house, foundation, magazine and web portal.
The Krakow Reading Series consists in regularly organized meetings during which men and women writers, essayists and translators read excerpts from their works. The authors of the project would very much like to create a permanent forum where literature would play the leading role. During the Reading Series meetings, you will be able to listen to those texts on which the writers are still working as well as to the latest works by authors who are already known and by those who are debuting. All works to be read are selected by the curators of the project.
An instrumental mantra will accompany Ryszard Krynicki’s texts and contribute to stirring emotions. On 18th September, the Poet – with the accompaniment of the Rdzeń2 band – will read those of his poems which are closest to him. Podgórska Jesień Kulturalna (Podgórze Cultural Autumn) is traditionally the biggest one of all events organized by Dom Kultury Podgórze (Podgórze Cultural Centre). This year’s festival commences the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of attaching Podgórze to Krakow, which took place in July 1915.
Within the frame of the Podgórze Cultural Autumn, an innovative project by Ryszard Krynicki and Piotr Lutyński entitled “Wiersze, do których jestem najbardziej przywiązany…” (“Poems to which I am most attached…”) will take place in the Podgórze Cultural Centre auditorium (13 Sokolska Street) on 18th September at 6 p.m. This unusual form of presenting literature has been inspired by the enchantment with the exceptional poetry and person of Ryszard Krynicki.
The Rdzeń2 band members are:
Piotr Lutyński – project manager
Rafał Kukiełko – music, bass
Piotr Lutyński – violin, whistling
Grzegorz Kossowski – guitar
Kacper Ivo Matuszewski – drums
Leszek Hefi Wiśniowski – saxophone, flute
The band will feature Joachim Mencel, a talented jazz musician, pianist and composer. Moderation: Marta Półtorak
Entrance is free. You are heartily invited!
More information about the meeting and the Podgórze Cultural Autumn to be found at www.dkpodgorze.krakow.pl
Source: www.wydawnictwoa5.pl
On August 19th, during the annual Edinburgh International Book Festival, a new wave of literary initiatives from Krakow took over the Jura Unbound event! The Jura Unbound is a celebration of niche and world literature – showcasing literature in unique settings and intertwining it with other art forms, like music and film. It is a truly interdisciplinary and hip event that is held after 9 am for two weeks in a wide variety of inviting locations.
This year Jura Unbound welcomed 3 innovative authors and literary figures from Krakow: Piotr Marecki (Ha!art Corporation), Łukasz Orbitowski and Sławomir Shuty, who engaged audiences on the following topics:
New Wave Krakow: Contemporary literary arts in the youngest City of Literature
Sławomir Shuty and Łukasz Orbitowski discussed a side of Kraków not typically featrured in tourist guidebooks or on the official channels of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature. Shaby local bars and illegal flee markets constitute the background for their fiction. They talked about the popularity of Kraków as a setting of popular horror stories and fantasy novels, as well as Slavic motifs, which became the obsession of some local and international authors. They also spoke about the phenomenon of Nowa Huta, the communist socrealist district (Sławiomir Shuty’s artistic pseudonm, “Shuty”, is the phonetic transcription of the words “z Huty”, which means “from Huta””).
Polish Experimental Writing in the Digital Age
Polish digital literature has a rich tradition to build on, in particular the Polish experimental literature and demoscene to avant-garde filmmakers associated with the Warsztat Formy Filmowej (Film Form Workshop). With a rather isolated position on the international scene and a separate, a unique historical background contributes to the distinctiveness of Polish digital literature.
Both events are organized in cooperation with Krakow Festival Office and the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature Programme.
Krakow earned the prestigious UNESCO title in October 2013 and joined the ranks of Edinburgh, Melbourne, Iowa City, Dublin, Reykjavik and Norwich.
Starting today (August 1st), in the very centre of Krakow and on the corner of the Main Square and Bracka St., it will be possible to read poetry from 7 UNESCO Cities of Literature ! As part of the “Multipoetry” project, during the first week of every month, on the wall of the Potocki building, poems from the members of the Creative Cities Network’s literary cities: Dublin, Edinburgh, Iowa City, Krakow, Melbourne, Norwich, and Reykjavik, will be projected. Everyday a poem from a different city will be presented in Polish and English.
The poetry projection project was started in this spot by the Poemat Foundation in 2002. The project began as part of the “366 poems in 365 days” initiative organized by Michał Zabłocki. In central tourist locations in Krakow and Warsaw, on the facades of two buildings, every day throughout the year, 366 of Zabłocki’s poems were projected. This was a world premiere of an entire volume of poetry presented in a one-of-a-kind fashion: on a wall. From this point forward, poetry has been everpresent on the facade of the building at the corner of the Main Square and Bracka St.
The concept of this project is an ideal fit with the strategy of the UNESCO Cities of Literature, whose key goal is to build and strengthen international cooperation. The idea was born during the international conference “Creative Cities and Regions”, which took place in Krakow, October 2012, as part of the Reading Malopolska project. This is the first project organized on this scale together with all the UNESCO Cities of Literature, since the release of the short films prepared in May of this year as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of the legendary book “Finnegans Wake” by James Joyce.
Read more about the poems and the poets here.
In order to participate in the project, go here.
The organizers of this project are the Krakow Festival Office and the Poemat Foundation
Partners of the project: UNESCO Cities of Literature, including Dublin, Edinburgh, Iowa City, Melbourne, Norwich, and Reykjavik