The Polish Book Institute

The translation of Witold Szabłowski's book Jak nakarmić dyktatora (“How to Feed a Dictator”) has been published in Germany. The book was translated by Paulina Schulz-Gruner. The publication was supported by the Book Institute as part of the ©POLAND Translation Programme.

The book Wie man einen Diktator satt bekommt, as reads the title of the German translation of the book, has been recently published by the Katapult-Verlag publishing house in Greifswald.

Witold Szabłowski travelled around the world for several years to find former chefs of Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, and other tyrants. He was fiercely trying to gather information about what they ate at the most important moments of their dictatorship. He carefully recorded everything, both the stories and the recipes. Thanks to this, an intriguing book telling a story from behind the kitchen door was created. The author allowed us to get to know the dishes that were bubbling in the pots when the fate of the world was at stake. What did Saddam Hussein eat when he gave the order to gas tens of thousands of Kurds? And Pol Pot, when nearly two million Khmer died of starvation? And most importantly, did the food affect their rule? Or have any of the chefs influenced politics through their culinary works?

A translation of How to Feed a Dictator into English was published last year. Antonia Lloyd-Jones' translation was also supported by the ©POLAND Translation Programme.

With the support of the ©POLAND Translation Programme, the translator of the book, Paulina Schulz-Gruner, has translated, among others, five novels by Marek Krajewski as well as books by Katarzyna Bonda, Brygida Helbig, Nadia Szegdaj, Magdalena Parys, and Michał Wójcik.