The Polish Book Institute

A translation of the book Nowe życie. Jak Polacy pomogli uchodźcom z Grecji  (“New Life. How Poles Helped Refugees from Greece”) by Dionisios Sturis has been published in North Macedonia. The translation by Lidija Tanuševska was supported by the Book Institute under the ©POLAND Translation Programme.

Sturis's reportage was published on the Macedonian market by the Slavika libris (Славика либрис) publishing house. Its title in Macedonian is 'Нов живот - како Полјаците им помогнаа на бегалците од Грција'.

After the Second World War, a large group of Greek and Macedonian refugees settled in Poland, fleeing their homeland from the civil war. These immigrants included the grandparents and father of the author of New Life, Dionisios Sturis. The reporter decided to tell this somewhat family story to modern readers. This is all the more valuable because it is a story that has probably not yet been recounted in our literature. Dionisios Sturis is a Polish journalist, writer, and reporter of Greek origin. A daily contributor to Tok FM radio, he also writes non-fiction books. Among them are Grecja. Gorzkie pomarańcze ("Greece. Bitter Oranges”), Zachód słońca na Santorini. Ciemniejsza strona Grecji (”Sunset on Santorini. The Darker Side of Greece”), as well as co-written with Ewa Winnicka Głosy. Co się zdarzyło na wyspie Jersey (“'Voices. What Happened on the Island of Jersey”) and Władcy strachu. Przemoc w sierocińcach i przełamywanie zmowy milczenia (”Lords of Fear. Violence in Orphanages and Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence”).

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The ©Poland Translation Programme is one of the Book Institute's flagship programmes. Its aim is to promote Polish literature around the world by providing financial support for the publication of Polish books in translation into foreign languages. Foreign publishers may use the funding grant to finance part of the work's publication costs, including, among other things, the translation of the work from Polish into another language, the purchase of copyright licences, and the printing of the book. In 2023 alone, we have subsidised 229 foreign editions of Polish books to be published by publishing houses from 46 countries, to which we have allocated almost PLN 5 million. In all editions of the programme, we have already subsidised a total of more than 3,000 translations of Polish books into foreign languages.

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