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Żanna Słoniowska wins the Conrad Award!

Żanna Słoniowska, the author of a debut novel “House With Stained Glass” (published by Znak Literanova), was announced the winner of the Conrad Award for the best literary début of 2015. The winning book was chosen by internet users, who voted for the five nominee débuts until midnight on October 29. The official presentation of statuettes was held on 30 October at the award gala in the Congress Centre ICE Krakow. In addition to the statuette, the winner received a cash prize of 30,000 złoty, a monthly residential stay in Krakow and a promotion campaign of the book during next year’s Conrad Festival and on the pages of “Tygodnik Powszechny” magazine. The Sunday’s gala ended the 8. Conrad Festival.

fot. Wojciech Wandzel, www.wandzelphoto.com

fot. Wojciech Wandzel, www.wandzelphoto.com

“On my way to the Conrad awards ceremony, at the Congress Centre ICE Krakow, I met the winner of last year’s edition, Liliana Hermetz. She told me how important the award was for her and how much it had changed her life,” said Andrzej Kulig, deputy mayor of Krakow for social policy, culture and city promotion. “This proves that the activities initiated in Krakow, the UNESCO City of Literature, result with actual growth of media and literary critics’ interest, and thus the general public, in the débutants,” adds Kulig.

Born in 1978, Słoniowska is a journalist, translator and writer, and a Ukrainian with Polish roots. She has been living in Krakow for years. Słoniowska is an expert in history of Lviv and the author of the album “The most beautiful photographs of pre-war Lviv” (2013). Żanna Słoniowska is the laureate of the 2014 competition for best novel, organized by the publishing house “Znak”. Her “House With Stained Glass” was awarded with publication. The writer was also nominated for the Literary Prize “Nike” in 2016.

fot. Hasenien Dousery | www.blackshadowstudio.com

fot. Hasenien Dousery | www.blackshadowstudio.com

“Everyone is after security, but personally, writing this book was against the human basic need. For five years, it was a matter of faith. I was writing the text for which no one was waiting, I was writing in my native tongue, I gave up my work. But the worlds, which I have discovered in turn surpassed my wildest expectations,” said Żanna Słoniowska on receiving the prize.

“The House With Stained Glass” is a story about the relationship between a young woman and mature man, about finding and defining one’s own identity, against a backdrop of bulging balconies and scaly façades of Lviv’s tenements. It is a four-generation family saga, in which the stories of the Polish and Ukrainian history intertwine at the level of personal choices, the fates of each of the characters. “I’m Lvovian” declares Nicholas, the only male figure in the clan of women, each of whom experienced life in a different era.

The five nominees will receive promotional support both during next year’s Conrad Festival, as well as in “Tygodnik Powszechny”.

The patron of the award is Joseph Conrad, one of the greatest modern writers, who began his international literary career after leaving Krakow. The founder and organizer of the awards is the City of Krakow, and the partners are: Instytut Książki, the Foundation of Tygodnik Powszechny and the Krakow Festival Office. The award is to support not only aspiring writers, but also publishers, encouraging them to take the publishing risk. At the same time, establishing the Conrad Award allows Krakow to realize key objectives included in the strategy for the UNESCO City of Literature.

The founder of the award is the City of Krakow, and the partners are: Instytut Książki, Krakow Festival Office and the Foundation of Tygodnik Powszechny.

For the first time in the festival’s history, two awards were granted, to acknowledge people working in the publishing industry. The accolades went to: the best moderator of a festival meeting, Piotr Sommer and the best interpreter, Anna Butrym. The award was founded by the Honorary Consul of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Tomasz Kopoczyński. The patron of the award for the best interpreter is the Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Poland, His Excellency Conrad Bruch. The winners were chosen by the festival audience, who could express their appreciation to the moderator and interpreter, the people involved in creating the Festival’s atmosphere in a special way by voting in the festival centre after each meeting.

The project was financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

The Festival is supported by EDF Poland – the patron of the KBF, Volvo Wadowscy, PZU SA and the John Paul II International Airport Krakow Balice Ltd.

More at: www.conradfestival.com

On Saturday, the 22nd of October at noon, the popular letters were once again installed at the Main Square in Krakow. Among the letters, refreshed by Agnieszka Piksa – graphic artist, author of comic books and illustrator from Krakow – the audience could see the authentic Wawel Dragon, who handed balloons to children, while at Powiśle 11 complex, during the special edition of the Krakow Book Market, the antiquarians from Krakow and Katowice presented their book treasures to the residents of the city.

 This is how Krakow celebrated the 3rd anniversary of the prestigious UNESCO City of Literature title!

Of course, we have photographs from all of the events, taken by Inga Szeliga

Seven festival days, over 100 writers from Poland and abroad, almost 90 events, meetings in eight languages, three live broadcasts each day, six book premieres under patronage of the Conrad Festival and the second Conrad Award ceremony – the Conrad Festival, the most important literary festival in this part of Europe just started! This year’s theme of the event is Intensity.

For everyone, who will not be able to join us at Czeczotka House, we are going to provide two live broadcasts of the most important meetings, which you will be able to watch on Facebook (here)

Join us and follow Our FacebookCoL Instagram KBF Twitter.

You can find the full programme of the festival here.

On the 22nd of October (Saturday), Krakow will celebrate the third anniversary of becoming the UNESCO City of Literature. On this occasion, the operator of the UNESCO programme in Krakow – the Krakow Festival Office – has prepared some special attractions. Join the celebrations!

  1. Letters – once again.

On the upcoming Saturday, we are once again going to see the large format letters reading KRAKOW UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE in the Main Market Square as part of the anniversary celebrations. This way we want to once again emphasise the literary identity of the city. The letters will also have a new, refreshed look, referring to the works of the Polish school of illustration, presented at the ongoing exhibition Snakes, daggers and rose petals at the Art Bunker Gallery. They were designed and made by the visual artist from the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, an illustrator, graphic artist and author of comic books – Agnieszka Piksa – whose works are exhibited in the popular Bunker, as part of an event accompanying this year’s Conrad Festival.

On that day, you will also have an opportunity to meet the animator dressed up as a dragon, who will give out commemorative balloons to the lucky residents and tourists.

  1. The Krakow Book Market in Powiśle

The celebration of good second-hand literature – a special edition of the Krakow Book Market will take place in the complex at Powiśle 11 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., as part of the celebrations. The visitors will be able to take advantage of the offers presented by Szafa Pełna Książek – a bookshop, cafe and antique book store from Podgórze, 9 Wrota and Antykwariat Abecadło,Sofa Literacka from Katowice and booksellers from the Market Hall. It is worth bringing the whole family – there will be comics drawing workshops for kids, and a demonstration and lecture on emigration publishers for the older readers. Everyone is also invited to the neighbouring Metaforma Cafe, where you can receive a 10% when you show a book bought at the market.

  1. Conrad Festival – starting on Monday!

The celebrations of the 3rd anniversary of receiving the UNESCO City of Literature title all foreshadow the 8th Conrad Festival, starting on Monday in Krakow. This year’s festival meetings, scheduled to take place in the unique space of the Czeczotka House at the corner of Wiślna and Św. Anny streets, will be attended by an impressive team of writers from all over the world, including Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours, an outstanding Australian writer – Richard Flanagan, the youngest Booker Prize laureate – Eleanor Catton, Géza Röhrig, a Hungarian writer, poet and actor performing the leading role in Son of Saul, as well as Samar Yazbek, Michel Faber, Andrzej Stasiuk, Artur Domosławski, Wojciech Górecki and many more.

Find out more at:

www.conradfestival.pl

  1. Renewed Codes of the City

On the 22nd-23th of October, the replacement of plaques on literary benches scattered around the Planty Park will begin. Over 150 plaques commemorating the most outstanding writers connected with Krakow and the selected guests of literary festivals will now have an updated design. Every plaque has a unique QR code, allowing to access multimedia content connected with each and every writer: fragments of texts, archive recordings, a short biography and a photograph.

 


 

Living in the UNESCO City of Literature – more about the title

The Creative Cities Network is a UNESCO programme launched in 2004 in order to promote the economic, social and cultural development of the cities, based on the principles of creativity and sustainable development. UNESCO distinguishes cities with the Creative City titles in many categories, including music, literature, film, gastronomy, artistic crafts and folk art, design and visual arts. The capital of Małopolska received the City of Literature title in 2013 as the very first Slavic city and the second non-English speaking city in the world. UNESCO appreciated not only the centuries-long heritage of the city of Szymborska, Miłosz, Lem, Mrożek and Kantor, but also the status of a leading Polish academic and intellectual centre, the fact that Krakow has been hosting the leading Polish literary festivals – the Conrad Festival and the Miłosz Festival, the fact that the Book Institute is based in the city, the largest Book Fair in Poland take place here, and that the city is characterised by concentration of the publishing and book selling sector.

Krakow Miasto Literatury UNESCO, Fot. Tomasz Wiech

Krakow Miasto Literatury UNESCO, Fot. Tomasz Wiech

Since then, Literary Krakow has been on a new path. The long-term strategy of promoting readership, supporting writers and the local book market, entered into the application prepared by literary groups of the city was adopted by the resolution of the City Council. Additionally, the city programme for developing cultural life in book stores and a strategy of supporting debuts, comprising the Conrad Award for the best prose debut established in 2015 was announced, along with the UNESCO City of Literature Creative Writing Course. The process of combining libraries in Krakow and supporting the activities of local branches is currently ongoing. Moreover, as part of the Czytaj PL (Read PL) campaign, a network of free e-book libraries took over the streets of six Polish cities last year, the Conrad Festival and the International Book Fair break the popularity records each year, the Miłosz Festival takes place annually, along with the Wisława Szymborska Award Gala, symbolically renewing the tradition of the meetings of Poets of the East and the West, initiated by the two Nobelists. Krakow was also given reins of the Cities of Literature network, presiding over the works of the Steering Committee, which approves new applications for the network.

The role of literature is sometimes similar to that of a map. While showing the reality, it has to distance itself from it and cannot show it in a 1:1 scale. On Sunday, Géza Röhrig, David Van Reybrouck and Grażyna Plebanek will use the Conrad Festival as an opportunity to discuss the process of literary mapping of the world and human experiences. The day will end with the Conrad Award Gala, during which the audience will learn the name of the best debut author of the year.

Maps, both literary and real ones, allow us to traverse the world. This is also what the participants of the Festival are going to do on Sunday – they are going to visit Congo, Israel and travel back in time to Bulgakov’s Russia. The meetings around the two literary awards will allow them to set new orientation points in the vast space of literature.

The art of translation calls for selectivity. It is not always possible to translate everything, and sometimes some meanings have to stay hidden. Thus, the process of translation is similar to making one’s own map, offering an alternative way to navigate through a text in another language. The new polemic translation of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita will be discussed by Grzegorz, Leokadia and Igor Przebinda during a meeting with Tomasz Fiałkowski.

David Van Reybrouck, a writer of historical prose, both fiction and scholarly works, comes from the Belgian part of Flanders. In his work, he focuses on Congo – its culture, as well as political and social issues. In 2015, his famous book Congo: The Epic History of a People was published in Poland as  Kongo. Opowieść o zrujnowanym kraju. The book itself was the fruit of his travels, observations and in-depth scientific research. The author asks us to once again think about colonialism. During the meeting titled “Whose Africa?”, Grażyna Plebanek, David Van Reybrouck and Maciej Jakubowiak will discuss colonialism.

In spite of the fact that written word played a significant role in the history of Israel, many people do not realise that the country has very diverse literary traditions. The next meeting will take the audience of the Conrad Festival to the world of Israeli literature, mostly unknown in Poland. The invited guests -Eshkol Nevo, Yishai Sarid, Zeruya Shalev – will come to us as emissaries, whose role will be to show us the specifics of one of the most interesting areas of the world from the literary standpoint. The discussion will be conducted by Karolina Szymaniak.

During Conrad Festival, Sunday is definitely the day of awards. One of the meetings will be devoted to the art of Alain Mabanckou, a writer born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who in his books deals with the problems of black people in Africa, as well as the African diaspora around the world. Mabanckou was the laureate of the last year’s edition of the Polish edition of the Goncourt List – the Polish Choice, under the patronage of the Goncourt Academy. The event will be conducted by Olga Stanisławska.

The day will end with the long-awaited Conrad Award Gala, combined with a master class conducted by Géza Röhrig. During the Gala, the Conrad Award for the best début of 2015 will be presented. Among the nominees for the Award there are Marek Adamik, Magdalena Kicińska, Weronika Murek, Żanna Słoniowska and Tomasz Wiśniewski. You can cast your vote on the Festival’s website.

Read more at www.conradfestival.com

Thomas Frognall Dibdin said about bibliomania that it is “the most understanding and worthy of distinction of all types of madness”. On the 22nd of October, on the 3rd anniversary of Krakow being granted the title of UNESCO City of Literature, all bibliomaniacs can count on particular understanding – join us for a special edition of the Krakow Book Fair!

The popular KIK series, miniature editions of Wydawnictwa Filmowe i Artystyczne, classic comics, pre-war historic books and numerous Cracoviana – the Krakow Book Market is a unique opportunity to catch up on reading and be reminded that a good book has no expiry date.

The Market will run from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Presenting their offer will be: Szafa Pełna Książek – the historic bookstore-cafe and antique bookshop from the Podgórze district, antique bookshops 9 Wrota and Abecadło, the hobby bookshop Fan Komiks from Batorego Street, Sofa Literacka from Katowice, and booksellers from the Market Hall.It is worth bringing the whole family – there will be comics drawing workshops for kids, and a demonstration and lecture on emigration publishers for the older readers. Everyone is also invited to the neighbouring Metaforma Cafe, where you can receive a 10% when you show a book bought at the market.

The event is a continuation of the September market on the roof of the pavilion at Powiśle 11 and the April event in Plac Św. Marii Magdaleny, organised on the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day. In the new year, we will be back outside, with an even more interesting offer and on an even bigger scale!

wydarzenie

It might seem that our senses objectively inform us about everything that happens around us. Art, however, proves that everyone can see, feel or hear differently, and experience their meetings with literature in various ways. The Saturday meetings of the Conrad Festival will be devoted to senses. Their impact on artistic creations will be discussed in Krakow by Michael Cunningham, Richard Flanagan, Eleanor Catton and Marek Bieńczyk. During the evening screening of Son of Saul we will also have an opportunity to listen to Géza Röhrig himself – the writer who won an Oscar for his performance.

“I need to feel that I live in a crowded world, full of life”, said Michael Cunningham in one of his interviews, and added that he is not a loner and needs many stimuli in order to be able to work. “In this world, we walk on the roof of hell gazing at flowers…” – this poem appears in The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. Both will join us for a meeting on Saturday. The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hours and the Booker Prize laureate will tell us about the sensual experience as significant for life and art, driving them and often allowing to survive the most difficult moments. The meeting will be conducted by Magda Heydel, who will also ask them whether the language which they both speak gives them a sense of shared cultural space.

The opportunity to take a different look at reality will be presented to the participants of another meeting – this time with Eleanor Catton. The Luminaries is the story of our passions. Catton wrote her story of the gold rush in New Zealand when she was 28 and it brought her a Booker Prize – thus making her the youngest laureate of this literary distinction. The book will be soon brought to the silver screen by the BBC. The meeting is made even more interesting by the fact that Catton does not shy away from social activism – in 2015, during a festival in India, she caused a scandal, when she accused New Zealand’s political elites of greed and lack of interest in culture.

The next meeting will be based on About Them Here – an anthology of sketches on translation and language, printed in Literatura na Świecie, selected and edited by Piotr Sommer. Without the work of translators, not only Conrad Festival would cease to exist, but also any other literary festival in the world, because it is them who enable the majority of readers to experience literature. Yet, words are not always willing to get in line, and meanings are often lost in translations. This will be the subject of discussion for Zofia Król, Piotr Sommer, Małgorzata Szczurek and Marcin Szuster

Conrad Festival is created by people in the very first place, and because of them it is a true celebration of culture. Marek Bieńczyk, who has been with the festival from its conception, will be a guest of the Ball, a meeting devoted to memories and surprises, conducted by Piotr Sommer.

These are just a few of the attractions waiting for you on the day devoted to subjective experiencing of the world and sensual cognition. It is worth taking part in the meetings not only to see the writers, but also to experience what the creators see and hear in the cacophony of voices around us, and feel what they taste and touch.

plansza_02_zmysly_1920x600

 

Read more at www.conradfestival.com

The City Council of Krakow has adopted a resolution providing free public transit for participants of the International Book Fair in Krakow and the Conrad Festival, who have a valid ticket to the Fair between the 27th and 30th of October. The idea of this special discount for readers was put forward by Mayor Jacek Majchrowski, in favour of the joint initiative of the Book Fair in Krakow, the Krakow Festival Office – the Operator of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature programme and the Councillors from the Culture and Historical Protection Committee.

“Being a Cracovian means a special attitude towards books. Cracovians openly declare their commitment to literature, they read a lot, visit the Conrad Festival in droves, and the Krakow Book Fair beats attendance records year after year”, said Krakow Mayor Jacek Majchrowski. “I believe that with this year’s 20th edition of the Fair and the culmination of yet another edition of the Conrad Festival, with a star-studded pantheon of prominent writers and intellectuals, we have an excellent context to emphasise that the manifestation of reading attitudes in Krakow – the UNESCO City of Literature – is very important for us. In this way, we not only popularise the book as a cultural good and encourage people to visit the Book Fair and the Conrad Festival, but we also promote sustainable public transit, the high quality of which is something we can be very proud of”.

The discount will be effective from the 27th to the 30th of October. Free travel on city trams and buses will be available to passengers who hold an admission ticket to the Book Fair. The discount will benefit primarily readers travelling between the EXPO Kraków International Exhibition and Congress Centre at Galicyjska 9, where the Book Fair will take place, and the meetings of the Conrad Festival, taking place at the Czeczotka Palace (the old Centrum Gallery, Wiślna 1). The solution will help to relieve crowding on streets and in car parks, and is intended to be an incentive for residents to actively spend the most literary week of the year.

“We are very pleased that the joint initiative of the Krakow Festival Office and the Book Fair in Krakow was positively received by the Mayor and the Council. The resolution of the City Council on free travel on public transit for holders of an admission ticket to our fair is a very important message for the residents of the city and readers from all over Poland, showing the Councillors’ concern for the level of readership and promotion of literature. Making it easier for participants of the 20th anniversary edition of the International Book Fair in Krakow to take part in the most interesting events during the culmination of the Conrad Festival is a gesture worthy of a UNESCO City of Literature”, said Grażyna Grabowska, President of the Fair in Krakow.

The action was supported by Krakow councillors, particularly Anna Szybist and Małgorzata Jantos. The originators of the initiative have not ruled out its continuation in subsequent years. Through this action, Krakow can continue one of the most original campaigns to promote public transit in our country, in conjunction with a broad promotion of reading.

fot. Tomasz Wiech for Krakow Festival Office

They occur everywhere where people professing different values come together and open a dialogue. They show that not everything is subject to negotiation and establishing common meanings is not always peaceful. “Tensions” – this will be Friday’s theme at the Conrad Festival. The guests of the day will include Richard Flanagan, Samar Yazbek, Szczepan Twardoch, Jadwiga Staniszkis and Inga Iwasiów, while Michael Cunningham will deliver the introduction before the screening of The Hours.

What are the results of tensions and how do they manifest in literature? Do they lead to the release of creative energy, or the contrary – the spread of destruction and nothing else? Some tensions become evident immediately – there is an explosion of an unexpected reaction – while others remain hidden and accumulate for many years. Courage is needed to take them on. This was the case with the story that became the subject of The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a novel written over the course of 12 years. At some point, Richard Flanagan admits, it became clear to him that if he didn’t write this book, he would never create anything else – it took up so much energy and personal commitment. The jury of the Booker Prize called The Narrow Road to the Deep North a masterpiece. Richard Flanagan will discuss how much of this masterpiece is a private story, and how much of it hides a story that Australia would rather not remember with Michał Nogaś.

Armed conflicts are an enormous challenge of our times. War is a frequent reminder of how disastrous the consequences of escalating tensions can be and the enormous impact they have on the lives of innocent people. What does it look like from up close? Whom does it touch and to what extent? Samar Yazbek, Syrian journalist and author of The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria writes about what we probably do not know about her country. She writes about the life of the revolutionaries and the ordinary people, persecuted and killed – first by the regime and then by the religious extremists and ISIS.

Vasyl Slapchuk will also talk about war as a personal experience. The Ukrainian poet, novelist, literary critic and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan has taken on the experience of military conflict in his work for years. Two of his books have been published in Poland: Woman Made of Snow and Book of Forgetting, which is a kind of closure of the Afghan themes.

The next meeting of the day shows conflicts unknown to the media, the stories of violence and exclusion that often do not reach the public. The role of the reporter is to uncover them, even if it requires traveling thousands of kilometres. Artur Domosławski crosses Columbia, Brazil, Mexico, Palestine, Egypt, South Sudan, Kenya and Myanmar, and from all these places, he brings stories that are frighteningly similar, showing the dark side of human nature in various corners of the world, showing that humans are sometimes inclined to the vilest of things. Domosławski’s book shows how easily violence and power invade human life. The author takes the side of the excluded, people who are completely defenceless against the power structures.

Social disparities, poverty, danger – all of these things affect the feeling of happiness. What is this feeling like in Poland, where the situation is relatively stable? Talking about whether Poland is happy will be Jadwiga Staniszkis, Tadeusz Sławek and Szymon Wróbel. The meeting will be conducted by Piotr Śliwiński.

Late in the evening, at the end of the day full of tensions, awaiting the Conrad audience is “Rumble” – a meeting with Szczepan Twardoch, dedicated to his latest novel, Król [King], hosted by Szymon Kloska. What it will bring – we cannot say for sure, and the organisers recommend being ready for intense experiences, especially literary ones.

It is also worth planning a visit to the Pod Baranami Cinema on Friday night. As part of the film programming, there will be a screening of Stephen Daldry’s 2002 The Hours, with an introduction by Michael Cunningham. The author of the novel on which the film is based will definitely help the audience look at the work differently than they have before.

More at www.conradfestival.com

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