The Polish Book Institute

An evening of readings and conversation with Ryszard Krynicki and Alissa Valles exploring the changing shapes and voices of the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert. Chair: Dr Katarzyna Zechenter, School of Slavonic and East European Studies UCL.

We never cease to be delighted by the success of Olga Tokarczuk, who has become the first Polish writer to win the prestigious Man Booker International Prize. The translation of the award-winning book – published in 2017 in Great Britain as Flights – was rendered by Jennifer Croft (USA), and co-financed by the Book Institute as part of the ©POLAND Translation Program. The book won our Found of Translation award, singling out the most important translation into English in a given year.

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk and translated by Jennifer Croft has won the 2018 Man Booker International Prize.

The 28th International Book Fair in Abu Dhabi is underway. Poland is the guest of honor for the first time.

Today marks the beginning of The London Book Fair, the largest spring publishing event, a place for publishers and literary agents from all around the world to meet, and to negotiate rights to new books, film and television scripts, and various sorts of digital content. The fair is held in the old Olympia Hall in West London, and is visited by 25,000 professionals from 118 countries around the world.

The Polish Book Institute, the Polish Cultural Institute in London, and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York are pleased to announce that the 2018 Found in Translation Award goes to Jennifer Croft for her translation of Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK) and Text Publishing (Australia) in 2017, forthcoming from Riverhead Books (US) in 2018. 

The Marek Nowakowski award chapter has decided to honor Paweł Sołtys this year for his collection of short stories, Mikrotyki [Microsations] (pub. Czarne), for its “original approach to the city of Warsaw, the precision of his language, his innovative use of words and his creative allusion to the prose of the award’s patron," as jury head Maciej Urbanowski phrased it.

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the world’s largest book fair for young people, began on a high note for the Polish children’s book community. The Polish Dwie Siostry Publishers was given the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year.

Today begins the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the largest international children’s book fair. Nearly 1,400 exhibitors from around the world will be presenting their publications for children; the fair is visited by around 26,000 people a day. Many countries organize collective booths at Bologna, among them Poland. The Polish presentation is traditionally prepared by the Book Institute.

Today marks the opening of the International Book Fair in Paris, the largest industry event in Francophone countries. The organizers are counting on around 160,000 visitors, based on previous years’ numbers.

Tomorrow kicks off the Book Fair in Leipzig – one of Germany’s largest events for readers, writers, publishers, and representatives of the book and media industry.

Olga Tokarczuk’s novel Flights has been put on the long list of books nominated for the Man Booker International Prize.

 

Penguin Books has slotted Witold Szabłowski's Dancing Bears for March 2018. Meanwhile, Harper's Magazine will be publishing a fragment of the book in its February 2018 issue. Have a look at: http://bit.ly/2EqbqcC. The translation was done by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.

We encourage you to read the text of Magdalena Brodacka - "Biblioteka Publiczna" monthly, No. 2/2018 - presenting the idea and describing the course of the "Biblioteka Nowa w Drodze" organized by the Polish Book Institute, which took place in two autumn editions in 2017 as a traveling seminar in several libraries of the Czech Republic.

The Polish Book Institute, the Polish Cultural Institute London and the Polish Cultural Institute New York are now accepting nominations for this year’s edition of the FOUND IN TRANSLATION award, honoring the best translation of Polish literature into English in 2017.