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Miljenko Jergović – one of the most prominent contemporary Croatian writers, whose works have been translated into many languages, including the Polish language, will appear in Krakow during this year’s Conrad Festival. The 6th round of the Festival is entitled the Shared Worlds. It will take seven days, beginning on Monday, 20th October, and ending on 26th October. The organisers of the Conrad Festival are the City of Krakow, the Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation and the Krakow Festival Office.
Miljenko Jergović, a writer, poet and columnist, born in Sarajevo, Bosnia, graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Sarajevo University. He made his debut with a poetry volume, Opservatorija Varšava, in 1988. Four years later he began to work as a publisher and a journalist for Nedjeljna Dalmacija weekly. Since 1993 he has lived and worked in Croatia. His collection of short stories, entitled Sarajevski Marlboro (1994) and focusing on the ravages of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, brought him the recognition of critics and international circles. Jergović owes his success to the excellent narration leading ability, to the lyricism present also in his prose works and to the courage of talking about the sensitive issue of history and including it in his fiction.
The writer is a winner of around a dozen awards, among others the Erich-Maria Remarque Peace Prize, the Premio Napoli, or the Meša Selimović Award for the best novel in the area of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro. For the book Srda Sings in the Twilights at Pentecost (2011) he received the Angelus Central European Literary Prize, awarded to these writers from Central Europe who in their work take up the most vital contemporary issues, who evoke reflection, and broaden the knowledge about the world of other cultures.
Already tomorrow (9th July), a supplement to Tygodnik Powszechny weekly, The Literary Magazine. Books in the Weekly, will be issued. It will contain the interview with the writer conducted by Grzegorz Jankowicz, the Executive Director of the Conrad Festival. Miłosz Waligórski is the author of the translation.
The newest issue of Tygodnik Powszechny, which from tomorrow (9th July) will be available at newsagents’ and press salons all over Poland, will also feature Miljenko Jergović’s short story, The Supernatural Expression of His Hands. Enjoy the reading!
We would like to add that the first announced guests of this year’s edition of the Festival are: the outstanding, American writer Paul Auster, the distinguished French philosopher Jacques Rancière, and the Nike Award laureate Olga Tokarczuk. The festival events will include meetings and discussions attended by outstanding writers, philosophers, directors and visual artists from all over the world. We will be talking about the relationships between literature and reality, as well as discussing the linguistic and literary tools which allow people to transcend the mental, cultural and aesthetic borders. This year’s Festival is entitled the Shared Worlds. Welcome!
We will soon announce more guests of the Conrad Festival. Please check our website www.conradfestival.pl and the Facebook profile.