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Krakow UNESCO City of Literature at the Jewish Culture Festival!

Filip Springer, Marcin Wicha, Wojciech Bonowicz and Dominika Słowik, creative writing workshops and a literary walk through the Kazimierz district – this is the first time in the history of the Jewish Culture Festival that such a diverse program of literary events will be available to participants. Lovers of literature will have access to a festival reading room filled with books, as well as a special edition of the interactive City Codes Project, which will present the most important places and people of the literary heritage of Kazimierz. The literary programme is organised in cooperation with the Krakow Festival Office, which is responsible for the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature programme.

Literary Programme

Many literary attractions await the participants of the Festival. Lovers of literature are welcome to attend meetings with the most interesting and prominent Polish writers, led by Filip Springer, Marcin Wicha, Wojciech Bonowicz, and the author of one of the most promising literary debuts of this year, Dominika Słowik. The youngest participants will be able to take part in special workshops: the children’s programme will have reading aloud and drawing together, as well as a search for a certain lost dog. During specially prepared workshops, seniors will find out how to begin their adventure with writing by discovering the secrets of constructing a good text. Literary Kazimierz will reveal its mysteries during a special walk, in which we will visit the literary nooks and crannies of the district, find out what its residents read, where they borrowed books and what songs they sang. There will also be references to the modern image of the district – as a restaurant hub and the setting for popular crime novels.

The programme is organised together with Wydawnictwo Literackie, Wydawnictwo Znak, Znak Emotikon, Karakter and Villa Decius.

 

Meetings:

Our little homelands. Literary workshops for seniors.

Thursday, 25 June, 6pm

Conducted by: Katarzyna Kubisiowska

Seniors, get your pens! “SAGA – creativity workshops” is an offer designed for people aged 55+, interested in literature. During the classes you will find out how to begin your adventure with writing, as well as learn the most important techniques of narration, describing events and building a plot. The workshops are organised in cooperation with the Villa Decius Association.

The number of places is limited

Free tickets available for pickup from the JCF ticket office at ulica Jakuba by the Cheder Café

 

Living in the city? Conditions and consequences of gentrification. A meeting with Filip Springer

Friday, 26 June, 6pm

Conducted by: Dorota Leśniak-Rychlak

To what extent should we interfere in social processes taking place in cities? How does the need to dominate the visual and urban chaos transform into gentrifying “niceism”? Does the battle for aesthetics contradict the battle for a social and functional diversification of the city? Filip Springer, undoubtedly the most interesting reporter of the Polish landscape, will attempt to answer these questions in the very heart of Kazimierz, one of the first Polish examples of the phenomenon of gentrification.

The meeting is organised in cooperation with Wydawnictwo Karakter.

 

And a little doggie. Art workshops for children

Saturday, 27 June, 6pm

Conducted by: Marta Tymowska and Marcin Wicha

Marta Tymowska and Marcin Wicha invite you to art workshops inspired by the poetry of Samuel Marszak. The programme includes: reading aloud, drawing together and general hijinks. We will also search for a certain tiny doggie. Samuel Marszak (1887-1964) was a Russian writer, translator, publisher and author of poems for children. His works were translated into Polish by, among others, Władysław Broniewski, Janusz Minkiewicz and Wiktor Woroszylski.

The workshops are intended for children aged 5 to … (as long as they still want to attend)

The meeting is organised in cooperation with Wydawnictwo Znak Emotikon

The number of places is limited

Free tickets available for pickup from the JCF ticket office at Ulica Jakuba by the Cheder Café

 

Trance and transformation. A meeting with Dominika Słowik

Sunday, 28 June, 6pm

Conducted by: Marcin Wilk

Atlas: Doppelganger is a strong, excellent debut, in which everything ordinary, dirty and cheap transforms into the metaphysical and fantastic right in front of our eyes. On a transformation-era grey Silesian housing estate, we sneak a peek at the degraded world of courtyards and the magical labyrinths of stairwells, described sharply, suggestively, in a language of the housing block cosmos well known to the author.

The meeting is organised in cooperation with Wydawnictwo Znak

 

Jacob’s Scriptures. A Reading by actor Anna Polony.

Monday, June 29, 18:00

The monumental “Jacob’s Scriptures” is an attempt to tell the story of Poland anew: a Poland that is colorful, diverse, multinational, but also torn by internal conflicts, full of tensions and disputes. This is not a historical narration – but a consciously political one. It’s a vision of what Poland could be, if history turned out differently.

Excerpts from the novel by Olga Tokarczuk, one of the most interesting European writers, will read Anna Polony, an outstanding actor and a legend of Krakow’s theatre scene.

 

Please read twice. A meeting with Wojciech Bonowicz

Tuesday, 30 June, 2pm

Conducted by: Szymon Kloska

Good day, good day! Misiu Fisiu has decided to repeat everything twice, so that he’ll have twice the fun. The author himself will talk about why the short stories from the newest tome about the adventures of the awkward bear should be read twice. Wojciech Bonowicz is a Nike award-nominated poet and novelist.

The meeting is organised in cooperation with Wydawnictwo Znak Emotikon

 

My place. A writing workshop.

Wednesday, 1 July, 6pm

Conducted by: Maria Kula

Two hours reserved only for writing. The workshop is not a lecture or a Polish lesson, but is a literal “workshop”, with practical exercises, thanks to which you will learn about writerly tools and find new ideas and inspirations. For everyone who loves to read and would like to write something. But also for everyone who has never read or written anything in their life, and would like to try. The meeting will be conducted by Maria Kula – an editor who works individually with writers, helps to write books and teaches writing courses.

www.mariakula.com

The number of places is limited

Free tickets available for pickup from the JCF ticket office at Ulica Jakuba by the Cheder Café

 

The district of words. A literary walk through Kazimierz

Thursday, 2 July, 4pm

Conducted by: Agnieszka Pudełko

Come with us on an exciting stroll! During the walk you will find out about secret literary corners of Kazimierz. You will take a look at memories of the pre-war district, find out what its residents read, where they borrowed books and what songs they sang. There will also be references to the modern image of the district – as a restaurant hub and the setting for popular crime novels. Let’s go!

The number of places is limited

Free tickets available for pickup from the JCF ticket office at Ulica Jakuba by the Cheder Café

 

City Codes

During the Festival, we will inaugurate a special edition of the City Codes Project, dedicated to Kazimierz. Within it, we will present 20 extremely interesting places and people connected with the literary and historical identity of the district, such as Rabbi Moses Isserles, also known as the Rema – the most famous Jewish scholar from Poland, Miriam Akavia – an Israeli-Cracovian writer, translator, former president of the Polish-Israeli Friendship Society, or Professor Julian Aleksandrowicz, doctor, philosopher of medicine, great humanist, and inspiration and pioneer of many research concepts.

 

JCF Reading Room and JCF Quarter

For the duration of the Festival, visitors will have access to a special reading room, filled with nearly 700 books donated by publishers from around the country – partners of our undertaking, without whom a project of this scale would have been impossible. Both the festival reading room as well as the literary programme itself will take place within the JCF Quarter, which will this year be the heart of the festival.

 

The JCF Quarter is a mini-town built especially for the festival, right next to the Old Synagogue, which will become an open space for the residents and guests, serving as a playground, reading room, café, a space for workshops and meetings with literature, dance, architecture, and a place for meetings of present and past residents of Kazimierz. This will be a very important and needed place for meetings for Kazimierz and its residents. In the JCF Quarter, visitors will be able to read books, make their own t-shirts with a specially designed logo, learn hip-hop dance, talk with known and respected writers, drink coffee from a finjan, play ping-pong or matkot, spend time listening to good music, and much, much more!

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