Krzysztof Siwczyk / Writers in Motion

As part of the Writers in Motion series, we spoke with the poet and literary critic Krzysztof Siwczyk, who was a guest at this year’s edition of the Miłosz Festival.

Krzysztof Siwczyk was born in 1977. A poet, book critic and occasional actor, he won the Czas Kultury magazine’s award for the best literary debut of the year in 1995, the Culture Foundation’s award in 1999 and the Kościelski Award in 2014. He was nominated for the Silesius Poetry Award in 2011. Mr. Siwczyk’s poems were published in all of Poland’s important literary journals, and also abroad (in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Canada, France, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria). His poems were published in the following poetry anthologies: Macie swoich poetów (“You Have Your Poets;” 1996 and 1997), The Anthology of Contemporary Polish Poetry (2000), 14.44 (2000), Das Unsichtbare Lieben-Neue Polnische Lyrik (1998), Akslop (Slovenia, 2005) and Vingt-quatre poetes polonaise (Murmure, France, 2003). He played the titular role in Lech Majewski’s feature-length film WOJACZEK (1999), for which he was nominated for a European Film Award. Mr. Siwczyk also appeared in Bluesmani (directed by Adam Sikora, 2000) and the multi-generation project Czuję głód (“I Feel Hunger;” directed by Paweł Bogocz, 2008). Along with Adam Sikora, who directed, he realized the film Wydalony (“Casted Away”)based on the work of Samuel Beckett, in which he played the main role. The premiere took place during the New Horizons festival in Wroclaw in 2010. Mr. Siwczyk is a member of the Polish Writers’ Association and the Polish PEN Club. Polityka and Tygodnik Powszechny publish Mr. Siwczyk’s work. He also co-hosted the Czytelnia (“Reading Room”) and Czytanie to awantura (“Reading Is a Quarrel”) television programmes devoted to books on TVP Kultura and was the editor of the poetry section of the Litera (“Letter”) journal. He works in the Mikołów Institute, where he edits a poetry editorial series as well as the Arkadia literary journal. Mr. Siwczyk lives in Gliwice.

The audiovisual Writers in Motion library is a long-term project realized by the Krakow Festival Office. Audiovisual portraits of Polish and foreign writers, both those living in Krakow and those who visit the city during its numerous literary events, are made thanks to interviews.