I was a voracious reader when growing up, I always had a book (or several) in my hand, I was reading in any and every situation, sometimes after lights out against my parents’ wi
A disclaimer first – I have just translated an extensive extract from this novel. And, as always happens, translating forced me to read deeply, perhaps more deeply that I would h
It’s been a long while since I laughed so much while reading a book, especially a Polish one. Usually when I do, I am forced to explain my laughter to my partner with a quick
The Polka has a new sibling! Yes, you read that right. The marriage of the European Literature Network (ELNet) and the Polish Cultural Institute (PCI), in my role as PCI’s Head o
This month, once again, The Polka veers away from its usual focus on introducing you to Polish books and writers deserving of your attention. Last time The Polka highlighted the mo
The Polka usually focuses on writers and books not yet translated into English but this time I would like to direct your attention towards some titles already, or soon to be, avail
Come with me as I enter a flat on the eleventh floor of a high rise apartment building in Olsztyn, a city in east-north of Poland, in the lands of Warmia, a historical and ethnogra
This month I am handing over the reins of The Polka to Ursula Phillips, a wonderful and very accomplished translator of Polish literature and a big advocate of Polish women writers
I need to start with a disclaimer: Daniel Odija and I went to high school together. That was in a small town called Słupsk on the Baltic Coast in Poland quite a while ago, and I w
We live in a world of migration. That often means that lines get blurred when it comes to our creative languages. There are more and more immigrant writers who switch to writing in
