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There are only few days before we are engrossed in reading more than on any weekend of the year. On the World Book and Copyright Day all side streets and squares in Krakow – the first Polish UNESCO City of Literature – will fill with books, and all bookshops and libraries will turn into centres of the city’s cultural life.
The 23rd of April is a very special day for world literature – the anniversary of death of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes. The idea to celebrate ”the greatest fun humanity has ever invented” was born in Barcelona, where a great open-air book fair is always held in the streets on St George’s Day. The capital of Małopolska also has its Krakow Book Fair to be held on the weekend from the 22nd to the -23rd of April. It will bring life to the charming St Magdalene’s Square, halfway from the Main Market Square and the Wawel Hill. From 11:00 am to 6:00 pm a dozen or so antiquarian and second-hand booksellers from Krakow and environs will show their books on the square. The rich offer of second-hand books will be supplemented by workshops, various shows and book reading. We will learn how to operate stencil duplicating machines which were used to print clandestine opposition press; a walk along antiquarian bookshops and workshops in drawing comic strip are also planned. On the awarding of the prestigious Cervantes Prize to Eduardo Mendoza, the library of the Cervantes Institute will hold an open-door event; you can also have a coffee and a light snack at the fair. The April fair heralds an all-year-round cycle of events by which the Krakow Festival Office– the operator of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature programme – wants to revive and promote the rich traditions of second-hand book trade at the foot of the Wawel Hill.
On 23-24 April the 16th edition of Book and Rose Małopolska Book Days will be held. Traditionally, the Voivodeship Public Library in Krakow along with other libraries and bookshops from Krakow and entire Małopolska have prepared many attractions. They will include a meeting with Father Leon Knabit OSB, the closing Gala of the Tree of Reviews competition, critical writing workshops, a literary field game and a special edition of the Second Life of a Book free book-sharing campaign. Passengers of Małopolska Railway can also expect a nice surprise – organisers of the campaign will hand out book gifts on the train!
Krakow bookshops have developed a specially eventful and rich programme. For all-Polish Small Bookshop Weekend (22-23 April), seven Krakow’s bookstores have planned concerts, exhibitions, meetings and workshops, and on top of that – a special event of the kind: silent reading! The Small Bookshop Weekend is the second edition of the grassroots campaign that was awarded the Bronze Paperclip prize in the Community Event of the Year category. The campaign was launched in 2016 in Warsaw with the aim to remind us that bookshops are important culture centres, of key importance for readership promotion. Twenty cities will be involved in the Small Library Weekend this year. Seventy bookshops have prepared in total 150 events! The Krakow Festival Office is a partner of the Krakow edition of the Small Bookshop Weekend. Bookshops are a strategic target for the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature programme which is implemented by the Krakow Festival Office and involves a municipal programme in support of cultural activities in bookshops.
Get to know this weekend’s itinerary!
For the programme of Krakow Book Fair click here.
For the programme of the 16th Book and Rose Małopolska Book Day click here.
For the programme of Small Bookshop Weekend – Krakow 2017 click here.
On 22nd April we begin the fourth series of walks along the streets of the City of Literature! The routes shall include some entirely new places, and apart from the well-trodden paths some less commonly frequented and undiscovered ones shall appear. The literary walks shall traditionally be held on the last Saturdays of each month. To start with, we offer a Tour of second-hand bookstores. See you!
The program for 2017 includes, among others, the walks in the footsteps of Wisława Szymborska, Czesław Miłosz, Stanisław Lem, Joseph Conrad (in connection with Conrad Year celebrated in Poland). Additionally, we have planned a tour of Krakow’s second-hand bookstores, a Krakow’s Avant-Garde walk, a family trip for adults and the little ones in connection with the Children’s Day, a literary sight-seeing tour of Nowa Huta, and many more.
We shall commence the fourth season of literary walks on 22nd April, on the eve of the World Book and Copyright Day. A week later, together with Agnieszka Pudełko, we would like to invite you to a walk in the Footsteps of Stanisław Wyspiański (29th April), focusing on his literary output. We are going to visit the places where he lived, where he used to go to school, and where he worked. We shall also explore the spaces which became his sources of inspiration.
NOTE: The participation in all walks is free, but we request prior registration. The persons interested in Stanisław Wyspiański’s Route (the walk on 29th April) may already send emails to the following address: spacery@miastoliteratury.pl. Do not tarry! – the number of participants is limited.
The complete schedule of the Literary Walks 2017 can be found here.
A story of an outstanding writer, publicist, and screenwriter. The movie acquaints us with one of the most outstanding contemporary prose writers, the winner of several awards in literature. The story told by his friends and the writer himself. The Krakow premiere of ”A Film about Pilch” will be given at Pod Baranami Cinema on 18 April (Tuesday) at 7.00 p.m. The creators of the film and the writer’s friends will appear on the red carpet. A meeting with the director, Adam Lewandowski, the author of the author’s biography ”Pilch w sensie ścisłym” (Pilch in the Literal Sense), Katarzyna Kubisiowska, and Maciej Jakubowiak, will be held before the showing. Małgorzata I. Niemczyńska, a journalist, will moderate the discussion.
”A Film about Pilch” is a story about a very special man, whose remarkable outlook on life and depictions of reality in a distorting mirror have earned him a permanent place in the history of Polish literature. Jerzy Pilch talks to the camera about his childhood in Wisła, the influence of women on his personal choices, the duties of the author, and relations with his parents who are also characters in his prose. The author invites the spectators to his flat in Hoża Street in Warsaw, where he lives and works. “He is obsessive about a few things – I sympathize with his erotic obsession… But his Lutheran snobbery is something I cannot understand…” – says Janusz Głowacki about the writer. A group of the Pilch’s friends and fellow writers appear in the production, including Krzysztof Varga, Andrzej Stasiuk and Wojciech Kuczok. The documentary was co-produced by Jacek Rzehak, the producer of ”The Mighty Angel”, and the Krakow Festival Office — the operator of the Krakow – a UNESCO City of Literature programme.
Krakow received the title of the UNESCO City of Literature in 2013 as the world’s first Slavic and the second non-English-speaking city. Projects combining literature and film, and showing the wealth of Krakow’s literary heritage are important for the promotion of readership and support to the local creative milieu. The following film productions have been made so far: ”The Views of Krakow” – a walk around Krakow with the poet Adam Zagajewski, the film ”I Keep Coming Back” about Ryszard Krynicki and ”A Life in Writing. Wisława Szymborska”.
Jerzy Pilch – a novelist, publicist, playwright and screenwriter. His prose is characterised by an ironical but tender look at the shortcomings of the world and human condition. An insightful observer and commentator of our local reality, shown from the perspective of intellectuals’ disappointment and complexes. A columnist, known for his originally conceived associations and caustic writing. The award winner of the Kościelski Foundation Award (1989) and NIKE literary prize, which he received in 2001 for his novel ”The Mighty Angel”. The author of film scripts for: ”Yellow Scarf” and ”List of Adulteresses”.
Adam Lewandowski is a film director and screenwriter. He graduated from film studies at the Jagiellonian University and the Krakow Screenwriting School. For ten years he has been active as cinematographer, specializing in ”making of”, i.e. documentaries made at the set of feature films. Has cooperated with Wojciech Smarzowski, Anne Fontaine and Małgorzata Szumowska and other filmmakers. In his 2012 debut: ”Samosiuk – an Independent Republic”, he portrayed an outstanding cinematographer Zygmunt Samosiuk.
Jacek Rzehak, film and TV producer, in the 1980s co-creator of TSA group success as its manager and lyricist. In 2014, together with Wojciech Smarzowski, received Golden Lions at the Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia for adaptation of Jerzy Pilch’s ”The Mighty Angel” for screen.