(born 1963) is a writer, literary critic, professor of literature, editor-in-chief of the bimonthly Pogranicze (“Borderlands”), and organiser of cultural and intellectual life in Szczecin where she was born and has always lived

Inga Iwasiów’s main occupation is academic research into literature. She has written several books on literature and literary criticism, and in this area of her work her essays inspired by feminism and gender theory have attracted attention, including Repossession – The Reading Woman Today (2002) and Gender for Intermediates – the Szczecin Lectures (2004). She had her debut as a creative writer in 1998 with The City-Me-The City, and then published two books of poetry, Love (2001) and 39/41(2004). These three works came out in small, exclusive print-runs in her home city; only the closest observers of contemporary literary life were aware of Iwasiów’s creative work. She then offered a wider audience a work of fiction called Tastes and Touches, which consists of 22 short stories about top artistic qualities. Each one has a woman as its main character, usually a mature one who has been through some more or less painful experiences. The cast of characters is impressive: as well as housewives or typical local girls living ordinary everyday lives, there are intellectual women, prostitutes and alcoholics. Although some of the characters (such as Anna or Małgorzata) appear in several stories, the book has no clearly dominant plot or central issue. The heroines are not just Polish, and some of the stories are set in the Balkans (including Bosnia and Croatia) or Western Europe (Austria, Germany and Holland). The specifics of time and place are not very important here, neither is the heroines’ social background, and even less the social milieu they belong to. Instead, Iwasiów focuses on their psychological portraits, and aims to express what is different about the women’s experiences, their particular sensitivity and awareness.

Tastes and Touches is a fascinating journey through a world of women, composed of details, moments and impressions, and it says just as much about men too. Inga Iwasiów takes the reader into a world of the senses, where feeling means starting to think.
Bernadetta Darska

BIBLIOGRAPHY (LITERARY WORK ONLY)

• Miasto-ja-miasto, Szczecin: Kurier-Press, 1998.
• Miłość, Szczecin: Wydawnictwo 13 Muz, 2001.
• 39/41, Szczecin: Wydawnictwo 13 Muz, 2004.
• Smaki i dotyki, Warszawa: Świat Książki, 2006.
• Bambino, Warszawa: Świat Książki, 2008.
• Ku słońcu, Warszawa: Świat Książki, 2010.
• Na krótko, Warszawa: Wielka Litera, 2012.
• Blogotony, Warszawa: Wielka Litera, 2013.
• Umarł mi. Notatnik żałoby, Wołowiec, Czarne, 2013.
• W powietrzu, Warszawa: Wielka Litera, 2014.
• Pięćdziesiątka, Warszawa: Wielka Litera, 2015.