Robert Hass / Writers in Motion

We invite you to watch another video in the Writers in Motion series. This time, we are speaking with Robert Hass, who was the guest of this year’s edition of the Miłosz Festival.

Robert Hass (1941 – ) is an American poet who lives in San Francisco. In 1971, he defended his doctorate in English literature at Stanford University. Czesław Miłosz, whose poems Mr. Hass has translated into English, was his neighbour in Berkeley. He has also cited Wisława Szymborska and Zbigniew Herbert as his masters. Mr. Hass is a renowned translator of haikus. In the mid-1990s, he created the River of Words association that promotion the idea of eco-literature. He was the United States Poet Laureate in 1995-1997.

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.

The recordings were made in collaboration with Popmoderna – www.popmoderna.pl.

Michał Koza interviewed Robert Hass.

Michał Koza (1987 – ) is a PhD student at the Jagiellonian University’s Faculty of Polish Studies and the author of articles and interviews for Popmoderna. He also published in Estetyka i Krytyka, Ruch Literacki and E-splot. Mr. Koza studies and critiques contemporary literature, is a philosopher both privately and academically, and likes to speak with writers.

Mateusz Witkowski was born in 1989. He is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of the Popmoderna.pl website. A graduate of literary criticism at the Jagiellonian University’s Faculty of Polish Studies, he is currently pursuing a doctorate at the same faculty. The connections between literature and popular culture, 1980s and 1990s British music as well as Italian soccer interest him. He is a strong opponent of the division between “low” and “high” culture. So far, he has published in Dwutygodnik, Xięgarnia, Czas Kultury and Opcje. He regularly writes for Gazeta.pl and Wirtualna Polska.