The Polish Book Institute

Last week in Vilnius, the Polish Institute in Vilnius celebrated International Translation Day in a special way, namely by organising a meeting of translators from Polish into Lithuanian and shining a light on those who, through their hard work, break down language barriers and enable us to get to know and love the cultures of other nations. Vytautas Dekšnys, Regina Koženiauskienė, and Vyturys Jarutis were decorated with medals for Merit to Culture Gloria Artis, presented by Ambassador Urszula Doroszewska. The Director of the Book Institute, Dariusz Jaworski, participated in the Saint Jerome's Feast Day celebrations, and the Book Institute was a partner of the event.

The three decorated translators have outstanding achievements not only in translation, but also in the popularisation of Polish books and literature. Their services to Poland and to Polish-Lithuanian relations can hardly be overestimated - it is thanks to them that Polish culture and language are well-known in Lithuania. This year's festivities centred around the exhibition “Out of the shadows”, which presents profiles of thirteen translators of Polish literature into Lithuanian. For although translators frequently remain in the shadow of authors, it is they who are the bridge-builders between cultures and languages.

The partners of the event organised by the Polish Institute in Vilnius were the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Vilnius, the Book Institute, The Lithuanian Association of Literary Translators​​, The Lithuanian Writers' Union, The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, and the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University.

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Below are profiles of the decorated translators.

Vytas Dekšnys –  poet and translator. In 1994, he graduated with a Master's degree in Philosophy from Vilnius University, in 2002 he completed his doctoral studies at the School of Social Sciences of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and, in 2004, he defended his doctoral thesis at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He has been a member of the Lithuanian Writers' Union since 2006, was coordinator of international programmes from 2014 to 2015, and has been a member of the Board since 2011. He co-ordinated the "Magnus Ducatus Poesis" ("Grand Duchy of Poetry") - a community of poets and poetry translators, musicians, painters, and other poetry-related artists connected to Central Europe (Lithuanians, Belarusians, Latvians, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, and others).

He translates mainly from Polish and Ukrainian, as well as other languages of Central and Eastern Europe. His translations regularly appear in cultural publications, collections, almanacs, anthologies in Lithuania and abroad. He is also the author of translations of Serhiy Zhadan's novels into Lithuanian. The poetry of V. Dekšnys has been translated into English, Belarusian, Hebrew, Polish, and Slovenian.

Selected translations from Polish:

• Selected poems by T. Różewicz ”4 poematy“ (Vilinius 2004);
• D. Terakowska ”Poczwarka“ (Wilno 2006);
• K. I. Gałczyński ”Młynek do kawy“ (Vilnius, Kaunas 2006);
• A. Stasiuk ”Jadąc do Babadag“ (Kaunas 2006);
• J. Kłoczowski ”Wspólnoty chrześcijańskie w tworzącej się Europie“ (Vilnius 2006);
• D. Masłowska ”Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną“ (Kaunas 2007);
• W. Gombrowicz ”Kosmos“ (Vilnius 2008);
• S. Chutnik ”Kieszonkowy atlas kobiet“ (Kaunas 2011);
• Cz. Miłosz ”Abecadło“ (Vilnius 2012);
• A. Franaszek ”Miłosz: biografia polskiego poety, laureata literackiej Nagrody Nobla“ (Vilnius 2015);
• E. Tkaczyszyn-Dycki ”Piosenka o zależnościach i uzależnieniach“ (Vilnius 2020);
• Cz. Miłosz ”Zdobycie władzy” (Vilnius 2021).

In 2006, he was awarded the Young Yotvingian Award (lit. Jaunojo Jotvingio premija), a literary award for the best volume of poetry published in the last two years. In 2013, the translated book Skaza (“Flaw”) by M. Tulli was included in the list of the most valuable translations of contemporary literature of the year, while Zdobycie władzy (“The Usurpers”) by Cz. Miłosz was included in the list of the most valuable translations of classical literature in 2021.

Vyturys Jarutis - Graduated in physics from Vilnius University in 1986. He worked as a teacher, completed his doctoral studies, also in physics, in Kaunas. He started translating in 1997 and has been a member of the Lithuanian Association of Literary Translators since 2004.

He translates mainly contemporary Polish literature and film dialogues. He has also translated plays staged in Lithuanian theatres, including “Script for the non-existent, but possible instrumental actor” by Bogusław Schaeffer, “Jasiek” by Andrzej Maleszka, “Ohne Titel” and “51 minutes” by Ingmar Villqist, “Toxins” by Krzysztof Bizio, “Memoir” by John Murell, “Republic” by Joanna Bednarczyk, “Between Lena's Legs, or The Death of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Michelangelo Caravaggio” by Agata Duda-Gracz.

In 2018, he was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit for his contribution to the development of Polish-Lithuanian cultural cooperation and for popularising Polish culture.

Selected translations from Polish:

• O. Tokarczuk ”Prawiek i inne czasy” (Vilnius 2000);
• J. Pilch ”Inne rozkosze” (Vilnius 2001);
• J. Pilch ”Pod mocnym aniołem” (Vilnius 2002);
• Cz. Miłosz ”Piesek przydrożny” (Vilnius 2000);
• Cz. Miłosz ”To” (Vilnius 2002);
• A. Libera ”Madame” (Vilnius 2005);
• O. Tokarczuk ”Dom dzienny, dom nocny” (Vilnius 2007);
• W. Myśliwski ”Widnokrąg” (Vilnius 2017);
• O. Tokarczuk ”Bieguni” (Vilnius 2019);
• O. Tokarczuk ”Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych” (Vilnius 2020);
• L. Kołakowski ”Mini wykłady o maxi sprawach” (Vilnius 2020).

Regina Koženiauskienė - Lithuanian philologist, researcher of Lithuanian literature, translator from Polish, German, and Latin. Born on 6 February 1946 in Vilkomir (Ukmergė).

She graduated in classical philology from Vilnius University in 1967. From 1996 to 2006, she headed the Department of Lithuanian Language at Vilnius University and was awarded the title of professor in 2002. She mainly explores rhetoric and ancient Lithuanian writing.

Author of monographs, textbooks and other teaching aids, as well as numerous scientific articles. In 1990, she wrote a work entitled 'Speeches and Dedications in the 16^th-18^th Centuries' (containing her own translations from Latin, Polish, and German). Together with A. Kalėda and M. Niedźwiecka, she prepared the anthology of Polish literature on Lithuanian themes entitled Litwo, matko nasza miła...(“O Lithuania, Our Dear Mother...”, 1996).

From the Polish language, she translated Śpiewki o dawnych Litwinach do roku 1434 ("Songs of old Lithuanians up to 1434”, 1994) and Pieśni ziemianina ("Songs of the Landowner”, 2019) by J. Czeczot, Genealogia albo krótkie opisanie Wielkich Książąt Litewskich i ich wielkich a mężnych spraw wojennych (”Genealogy or a Short Description of Grand Dukes of Lithuania and their Great and Valiant War Affairs”, 2001) by S. Dowgird, Eugene von Rönne's poems and the Polish text in A. Rotundus's Conversation of a Pole with a Lithuanian (2000), and Michalina Zaleska-Kossakowska's book Poezje. Echo pieśni od Wielony do Wojtkuszek (”Poetry. Echoes of Songs from Wielona to Wojtkuszki”, 2022). A. Mickiewicz's Ballady i romanse (“Ballads and Romances”) as well as J. Kochanowski's Fraszki (“Epigrams”) in her translation will also be published in 2022. Her translations of verse texts regularly appear in Lithuanian periodicals, anthologies, and other publications.

In 2019, Professor Regina Koženiauskienė, a distinguished Lithuanian linguist, translator, and educator, was awarded the Algis Kalėda Award for the book Songs of the Landowner, her translations of the poetry of Eugene von Rönne, as well as for her research and popularisation of Lithuania's multilingual literary heritage.