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The first meeting of the Honorary Board of UNESCO City of Literature

On Friday, February 20 at 12:00 in the Wielkopolski Family Palace took place the first meeting of the Honorary Board of UNESCO City of Literature. The Council was created as a result of appointing Krakow with the title in October 2013. Mayor of Kraków Jacek Majchrowski invited to the Council the people who enjoy the indisputable authority in the various fields of Kraków’s literary life. Jerzy Illg, Grzegorz Gauden, Ireneusz Kania, Ryszard Krynicki, Ewa Lipska, Bronisław Maj, Michał Paweł Markowski and Adam Zagajewski accepted the invitation to the Honorary Board.

The first meeting of the Honorary Board was attended by Ireneusz Kania, Ryszard Krynicki, Ewa Lipska, Bronisław Maj and Adam Zagajewski.

Kraków is one of the few cities in Poland and in Central Europe with such a distinct, literary character. It is here that the first books in the Polish language and other languages of the region were printed. I am happy that such prominent authors accepted the invitation to the Honorary Board, and will nourish the literary identity of Kraków together with us, says Jacek Majchrowski, the mayor of Kraków. I am pleased that the need to establish a permanent place combining heritage with new forms of expression, which would be a common platform for beginners and distinguished artists was so strongly emphasized during the meeting. Kraków demands the contact and the place for live meetings with literature.

Participants of the meeting summed up the results of the 2014 Programme of UNESCO City of Literature and discussed how the last year’s experience will influence the activities planned for 2015. They discussed the idea of ​​forming the Forum of Literature, the situation of bookstores and city libraries, as well as the role and methods of presenting the literary archives and documents of famous writers, in which Kraków abounds. The Honorary Board of the UNESCO City of Literature will be a living consulting body between the city and the community representatives. In the subsequent meetings, it will take up the most important issues related to both preserving and highlight the heritage of Kraków as the depositary of multi-language literature, as well as topics important for the literary life of the city.

Unusual conversations about literature, new books and a pinch of good music. Just the next Sunday you are welcome to listen to a unique broadcast Book’s not dead on the air of radiofonia.net. The programme, hosted by Katarzyna Trzeciak and Michał Sowiński, will be aired every other Sunday from 18:00 to 19:00, starting from February 22. The first episode will feature a conversation about Andrzej Stasiuk’s book Wschód (East), and the guest will be Ziemowit Szczerek. The radio programme is produced under the auspices of the City of Kraków, the UNESCO City of Literature.

Among the literary radio programmes, Book’s not dead is a corpse, which is quite alive (and kicking, for that matter!). The hosts will quicken the traditional formula of conversation about books, and will do it with their usual exaggeration. Each episode will feature an interview with one guest and about one book. Sometimes the hosts will flatter the bourgeois tastes, and sometimes will act as punk rockers of the Polish critics. They invite the celebrities of the literary world (sometimes those who are just aspiring). They fetish mainly the literary novelties, but they are punk rockers enough to keep coming back to the classics. In terms of subject, they are willing to agree with de Sade that literature should tell you everything, so they do not restrain themselves. Though they do feel intimidated at times, because it was philosophy that was supposed to say this, according to de Sade.

Since they like to exaggerate both in terms of interpretation and critics, they have two mottos: The platform for dispute has been outlined from Michel Houellebecq, and from Dark Foks: Wash me, / but do not soak me. Do they have anything in common? They don’t know it yet; but listen to them on Sunday evenings at radiofonia.net, because maybe something will be revealed.

Feel free to join!

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Tomorrow, February 20th at 11am, join Mateusz Witkowski, editor of Popmoderna, and Michał Koza, author, for a 20 minute trip around Krakow UNESCO City of Literature. The virtual tour will encompass the most interesting literary happenings, personalities, and hotspots of our city. Everything takes place as part of the fabulous Digital Writers’ Festival, organized in Melbourne, Australia (also a member of this prestigie network). Follow our correspondence on Twitter (hastag #dwf15) or Google Hangouts. Join us!

For more info about the literary walk, go here and here.

Writer and photographer on the trail of a missing Sandra Valentine. A dark story about love, loneliness and writing. One of the most celebrated and most interesting Polish writers, and the 2013 Nike Award winner, Joanna Bator will share about a trip to Sri Lanka, the tear-shaped island.

The meeting will be attended by Prof. Przemysław Czapliński and Krum Angelov Krumov. Fragments of Joanna Bator’s latest novel will be read by Anna Polony.

The meeting will be held on Friday, February 27 at 19:00 in the ICE Krakow Congress Centre (Kraków, ul. Marii Konopnickiej 17, room S3).

Free invitations will be distributed starting from February 18 (Wednesday) from 9:00 am in two city information points InfoKraków: in the Wyspiański Pavilion (pl. Wszystkich Świętych 2) and the Tourist Service Centre (ul. Powiśle 11). Anyone can pick up a maximum of two tickets. There is no possibility of booking the tickets.

Joanna Bator – Polish writer, journalist and columnist. She is a member of the jury of the international Ryszard Kapusciński Award. She won the Nike Literary Award (2013) for her novel “Dark, almost night”. Her books have been translated, e.g. to Hebrew, German, French, Macedonian and Hungarian.

ZNAK Publishing House and Krakow Festival Office welcome to the event.

As a result of the online initiative 52 Book Challenge PL, 83,000 Poles declared their will to read at least one book per week this year.Thanks to the Poczytajże! [Read Up!] event, the online community of readers will meet in the real world for the first time by visiting the Krakow bookshop of Korporacja Ha!art, the Bomba café and Bunkier Café.Partners of the event are Krakow UNESCO City of Literature and the Krakow Festival Office.

 

The three-day Read Up! event, which will take place from the 22nd till the 24th of January this year, is a joint initiative of the Korporacja Ha!art and Krakow journalist and startup creator Marcin Gnat – the author of the online campaign I will read 52 books in 2015.

 

Cracovians, read with us!

 

If you want to attend the January event, you can visit the Krakow bookshop of Korporacja Ha!art (Pl.Szczepański 3a, Bunkier Sztuki) to sit down and read books together.Every reader longing for new books will be offered a book for 1 grosz (!) from the catalogue of the publishing house whose portfolio includes writers such asJan Krasnowolski, Marta Dzido, Marian Pankowski, Sylwia Chutnik or Jerzy Franczak.And the catchword “52 books” will entitle you to buy new publications of Korporacja Ha!art with a 40% discount on cover prices.In addition, the first 100 persons who will visit the bookshop of Korporacja Ha!art will be entitled to collect a discount voucher for coffee and become engrossed in their reading in Bunkier Café located near Planty and buy books of Korporacja Ha!art with a discount on the price of coffee in the Bomba café at Plac Szczepański.

 

A smashing Series of Readings

 

On Thursday the 22nd of January, at 8.00 p.m. in the Bomba club at Plac Szczepański, as a part of the Read Up! campaign, a Series of Readings will be organised, during which Krakow writers from Korporacja Ha!art: Sławomir Shuty, Joanna Dziwak, Soren Gauger, Łukasz Podgórni and Piotr Marecki will read fragments of their latest books.And on Friday and Saturday (the 23rd-24th of January), during 30-minute sets organised in Ha!art’s bookshop, there will be an opportunity to listen toTomasza Charnasa, the editor of works by Marian Pankowski, Jan Bińczycki, who will read fragments of works by Jan Krasnowolski, and organisers of the campaign: Ewelina Sasin and Marcin Gnat, who will read fragments of books that they have chosen recently.


Organisers of the Read Up! campaign are: Korporacja Ha!art and 52 Book Challenge PL,

Partner:Bomba Na Placu, Bunkier Cafe, Krakow Festival Office, Krakow UNESCO City of Literature,

Patronage:Book Institute,

Media patronage:Radio Krk FM, Dziennik Polski, Rita Baum, Fragile, Hipsterski Maoizm.

 

Against statistics

 

The challenge I will read 52 books in 2015 motivates web users to read regularly for the entire year.This campaign began in the last days of December 2014 and, within a very short time, became the most popular event of this kind in the community of Polish users of the Facebook portal.Adding their profile to the group of participants, web users share information about their reading progress, publish their impressions and photographs of books on the Internet and motivate and inspire one another to develop.The organiser gives participants full freedom as to the thickness and type of books.Apart from belles-lettres and scientific books, fantasy books, science fiction books or even thicker drawing books are welcome.

 

Mark Zuckerberg ‘likes it!’

 

It is worth noting that one week after the launch of the initiative I will read 52 books in 2015, when it had already attracted over 30,000 participants, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he intends to read at least one book every two weeks and that the following 12 months would be the Year of Books on Facebook.

 

PROGRAMME OF READ UP!

 

  • the 22nd-24th of January, 12.00 p.m. – 7.00 p.m., bookshop of Korporacja Ha!art (Pl. Szczepański 3a, Bunkier Sztuki); Cracovians, read with us! – reading together and an opportunity to buy a book for one grosz;
  • Thursday, the 22nd of January,8.00 p.m., Bomba na Placu (Pl.Szczepański 2/1); A Series of Readings – fragments of books will be read by:Sławomir Shuty, Joanna Dziwak, Soren Gauger, Łukasz Podgórni, Piotr Marecki, host:Ewelina Sasin;
  • Friday, the 23rd of January,5.00 p.m. and 6.30 p.m., bookshop of Korporacja Ha!art (Pl.Szczepański 3a, Bunkier Sztuki); Read to Me!fragments of books will be read by organisers of the event: Ewelina Sasin and Marcin Gnat;
  • Saturday, the 24th of January,3.00 p.m. and 4.30 p.m., bookshop of Korporacja Ha!art (Pl.Szczepański 3a, Bunkier Sztuki); Read to Me!fragments of books by Jan Krasnowolski and Marian Pankowski will be read by Jan Bińczycki and Tomasz Charnas, editors of Korporacja Ha!art;
  • During the Read Up! campaign, the catchword:52 książki (52 books)will entitle participants to buy books of Korporacja Ha!art at a 40% discount, to receive 100 vouchers with a discount on coffee in Bunkier Cafe to be collected in the bookshop of Korporacja Ha!art and a discount on the purchase of books and on the price of coffee in the Bomba café.

 

To learn more about the campaign, visit the website of the organiser here.

 

All who love both literature and drawings are invited to attend to this year’s second edition of the Reading Series, which will take place in the Bomba club (Pl. Szczepański 2/1) on Thursday the 4th of February at 8:00 p.m. During the February meeting in the Reading Series cycle, Jakub Woynarowski will share his graphic novel Martwy sezon [The Dead Season], Joanna Ostrowska will read fragments of Przemilczane [Hushed Up] (Wydawnictwo Czarne), Piotr Kletowski will present Pier Paolo Pasolini. Twórczość filmowa [Pier Paolo Pasolini. Film works], and Pavel Peč will read Miód [Honey] by Tomáš Svoboda. The meeting will be hosted by Piotr Marecki. The Krakow Festival Office and Krakow UNESCO City of Literature are partners of the event.

The term ‘Reading Series’ is a calque from English. The Reading Series means both a form of presentation of literature and uniting of literary circles. It is high time that the ‘city of literature’ tested this form of organisation of literary life, too. The initiative is proposed by the circle of editors and activists concentrated around the Ha!art publishing house, foundation, newspaper and portal.

The Krakow Reading Series is a cycle of regularly organised meetings during which writers, essayists and translators read fragments of their works. The authors of the project want to create a permanent meeting forum where literature will play the most important part. During the cycle, there will be an opportunity to listen to works on which writers are still working and most recent works by popular authors, as well as debut authors who will be selected by curators of the project.

Another year in the UNESCO City of Literature is over!

The last intense and exciting twelve months abounded in events devoted to literature. The 7-day long Conrad Festival – the biggest festival of literature in Central Europe – was visited by over 150 writers from around the world, who attracted several thousands of spectators. A record attendance of 60,000 visitors was achieved by the 18th International Book Fair in Krakow. It was also the year when the Wisława Szymborska Award – the highest literary award in Poland and one of the highest in Europe – was granted for the second time. Apart from that, the last year was marked by innovations. 100 literary benches utilising new Technologies were installed in the Planty Park, and almost 8,000 free e-books and their fragments were borrowed during the Czytaj KRK! campaign. 15,000 books found new owners during 24 rounds of the Second Life of a Book campaign, and 40,000 copies of the Literary Map of Krakow were collected by Cracovians and tourists. However, figures and statistics were not the most important this year. What counted in the first place, was the unique atmosphere of literary Krakow, which enchanted both book lovers and writers from around the world who visited the city.

Conrad Festival

Within the scope of the 6th edition of the Conrad Festival – “Shared Worlds” – almost 150 events were organised, which attracted over 15,000 participants. During the one-week festival of literature, Krakow was visited by the greatest stars of the literary world: Boris Akunin, Paul Auster, Jaume Cabré, Etgar Keret and many domestic writers, such as Olga Tokarczuk, Janusz Głowacki or Szczepan Twardoch. For the first time, the festival events took place on the premises of the ICE Krakow Congress Centre. The festival was accompanied by many events, including concerts, film screenings, workshops for children and elderly readers, as well as industry meetings and training courses for booksellers and librarians. A special guest of the last edition of the Conrad Festival was Edinburgh – a UNESCO City of Literature co-operating with Krakow.

Festival of Literature for Children

In May, Krakow was home to the first edition of the Festival of Literature for Children – the first literary event on such a large scale that was dedicated almost entirely to children! The programme included meetings with authors and illustrators of children’s books, workshops, theatrical performances, and official readings of books in offices of mayors of cities participating in the festival. The first edition of the Festival aroused huge interest among small and big fans of literature.

New Technologies promote reading

In 2014, we also carried out successfully two extremely popular projects, under which we utilised new technologies in order to encourage Cracovians and tourists to read books. Thanks to City Codes, 100 literary benches dedicated to writers connected with Krakow were installed in the Planty Park. Among patrons we can find Wisława Szymborska, Joseph Conrad and Jan Kochanowski, but also Zośka Papużanka, Szczepan Twardoch or Łukasz Orbitowski. Beside names of authors, special plates with QR codes were placed to provide access to the website with fragments of texts, historical recordings, photographs and biographical information. The second project – Czytaj KRK! – is a specially elaborated application that gives users unlimited access to an e-book library. During three rounds of this unprecedented campaign, Cracovians could borrow books by Jacek Dukaj, Szczepan Twardoch, Rajy Shehadeh or other authors for one month. QR codes providing access to books could be found on posters in the city space: at bus and tram stops, in libraries and museums, in trams and in selected cafés and restaurants.

Book Fair with a record attendance and literary awards

The Book Fair was held in Krakow already for the 18th time, but it was the first edition organised as the International Book Fair and in the entirely new location: the International Exhibition and Convention Centre EXPO Krakow at ul. Galicyjska. Every year the event attracts a growing number of both Polish and foreign publishers and visitors – this year’s edition included 700 book stands visited by a record number of 60,000 persons. Moreover, on the last Saturday of October, the Wisława Szymborska Award – the highest literary award in Poland – was granted for the second time. A statuette and a cheque for PLN 200,000 were awarded to Julia Hartwig – the Nestor of Polish poetry. In June, the winner of the Transatlantyk Award, which is granted to persons promoting Polish literature around the world, was announced for the 9th time. This time the award went to Bill Johnston, a translator and a professor of comparative literature at Indiana University in the USA. It is also worth noting the Kazimierz Wyka Award – an award granted in the field of literary criticism, essays and the history of literature every January; its most recent winner is Małgorzata Szpakowska.

Literature has conquered the city

In 2014, there was plenty of literary events in Krakow! At the entrance to the Nowa Prowincja café at ul. Bracka, the first literary entry phone system in Poland was installed. For the first time, Cracovians and tourists could visit the most important literary addresses of the city by means of the Literary Map of Krakow, which was distributed at InfoKraków city points, in city libraries and cultural institutions. Huge crowds were attracted by a cycle of thematic literary walks (e.g., on the trail of poetry, Wisława Szymborska or Krakow bar realism) that took place every last Saturday of each month. New virtual literary routes were published regularly on the website of Reading Małopolska – a project nominated for the prestigious award ‘Poland Even More Beautiful – 7 Wonders of European Funds’ in May. A special walk was organised to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Czesław Miłosz’s death, and 1,000 colourful balloons flew into the sky from the ground of the Market Square exactly one year after Krakow had received the title of City of Literature. We closed the year in the City of Literature with ‘Crime in Krakow’ – a city game containing references to detective books by Krakow writers, which attracted nearly 200 participants.

Foreign events and international projects

The year 2014 was also marked by an intense co-operation of Krakow with foreign partners. The city became a place of temporary stay for Lyavon Barshcheuski– an outstanding Byelorussian translator, writer and political activist, who was already the 4th stipendiary of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) programme. For the entire year, in the central point of the city, on the wall of the tenement house at the corner of ul. Bracka and the Market Square, we could read poems by poets from 7 UNESCO Cities of Literature, and each City of Literature created short films based on Finnegans Wake by James Joyce on the 75th anniversary of the publication of this outstanding novel. Krakow UNESCO City of Literature was also present at international book fairs in New Delhi, Bratislava, Edinburgh, Vienna and some other cities. At the end of the year, it was announced that the network of UNESCO Cities of Literature had been expanded with further four cities: Prague, Heidelberg, Grenade and Dunedin (New Zealand).

Thank you, our Partners!

Last year’s projects would have been impossible to carry out without support from our partners. In particular, we would like to thank the Book Institute, the Foundation of the Tygodnik Powszechny weekly, the City of Literature Foundation, the Poemat Foundation, Krakow publishers and the Woblink platform, the Regional Public Library and municipal libraries, the Cervantes Institute, the French Institute, the Goethe Institute and the Italian Institute, the International Cultural Centre, the Radiofonia Association, students and employees of the Faculty of Philologies and the UNESCO Chair for Translation Studies and Intercultural Communication of the Jagiellonian University, as well as Krakow bookstores.

All projects carried out by us fit into the strategy of an UNESCO City of Literature, which encompasses, among others, the integration of literary life, the support of the development of book industries, the organisation of literary events and festivals and the support of the presence of literature in public space.

In 2015 we will have further exciting projects to offer. Krakow will be teeming with literature even more strongly!

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