News

11.03.2019

The Book Institute has supported the Spanish translation of Jacek Hugo-Bader's “Kolyma Diaries”

Recently, the translation of Jacek Hugo-Bader's Dzienniki kołymskie (“Kolyma Diaries”) into Spanish has been published. The translation by Ernesto Rubio and Agata Orzeszek was supported by the Book Institute as part of the ©POLAND Translation Programme.

Kolyma Diaries were published at the end of last year by La Caja Books publishing house from Valencia.

Kolyma Diaries is a literary reportage, whose main part are daily notes kept by the author during his journey through the part of Russia commonly known as Kolyma. The axis of the narrative is a hitchhiking trip from Magadan to Yakutsk, along the Kolyma Route, the main road route of these lonely lands. During the journey lasting more than a month, the author gets to know many colourful characters and writes down their stories. To some extent, the protagonist is also Hugo-Bader himself, who describes his personal experiences and adventures during the journey. The text contains many references to the life and work of Warłam Szałam, a writer and prisoner of Soviet forced-labour camp, who was forced to stay in Kolyma for many years.

In recent years, the Book Institute has also co-financed a number of other translations of Jacek Hugo-Bader's books. Thanks to the support of the ©POLAND Translation Programme, the Kolyma Diaries appeared in Italian (2018, translated by Maec Vanchetti) and Slovak (2013, translated by Patrik Oriešek), and Biała gorączka (“White Fever”) came out in Spanish (2014, translated by Ernesto Rubio and Marta Słyk), Swedish (2014, translated by Lisa Mendoza Asberg), Italian (2014, translated by Marzena Borejczuk), Hebrew (2013, translated by Marta Stankiewicz), and English (2011, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones).