September Book Fair with focus on Stanisław Lem

The last Krakow Book Fair this year will take place on 9 and 10 September in Marii Magdaleny Square. Stanisław Lem’s birth anniversary on the post-Fair Tuesday will serve as a theme for the nearest edition of this regular open-air book event. As always, a dozen or so antiquarians and booksellers from Krakow and the entire region will present their offers, accompanied by outdoor performances, literary walks and events inspired by the works of the most frequently translated Polish author of all time. Come and see the fantastic fair!

Hobbyist bookshop Fankomiks; antiquarian bookshops: Hulaj Pole, Suszek, Abecadło, Szafa Pełna Książek and 451 stopni; American Bookstore, and antiquarian bookshop Świat w Tunelu, as well as second-hand booksellers operating every week at Hala Targowa – the offer prepared for the last fair of the year will please all self-respecting bibliophiles. The Krakow Book Fair is a regular outdoor event by which Krakow – as the first and only Polish UNESCO City of Literature – promotes the idea of used book circulation and reminds the readers that good literature never grows old. The quaint marketplace of Św. Marii Magdaleny Square will not only let the visitors rummage through books but also rest on a deckchair with a book and a cup of delicious coffee from Bike Café.

The case of Stanisław Lem in Polish literature is very particular. Not only is he an author who, 11 years after his death, still boasts print runs worthy of any decent contemporary writer, but also a genius philosopher and futurologist whose visions often materialised before our very eyes. The September edition of Krakow Book Fair will be devoted to the most famous Polish sci-fi author: we invite you to an open-air performance based on Mortal Engines and Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics narrated by the professional storyteller Mateusz Świstak, founder of Baśnie na warsztacie project (Saturday 9 September at 3:00 p.m.), the signing of a newly published biography – Lem. Życie nie z tej ziemi (Lem. A Life out of this world) – by Wojciech Orliński, and a walk through Krakow following in the footsteps of the author of Solaris.

During the fair, you can also come across a bike of the Flying Reading Room of the Voivodeship Public Library in Krakow, offering books to borrow for free and with no returning deadline.

Krakow Book Fair

Św. Marii Magdaleny Square
(between Grodzka and Kanonicza Streets)
9-10 September 2017
11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

The organiser of the Krakow Book Fair is the Krakow Festival Office, the operator of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature Programme.