Born in 1982, he is a prose writer and translator, an economist by education. He has written short stories published in journals, anthologies, and two collections: Accounted (2009) and Traces (2016), as well as seven novels: Errors (2008), The Miracle Smuggler (2008), Josef (2011), In a Reflection (2011), Reverser (2013), Shudder (2015) and Rust (2017).

He has won the Gold Distinction of the Jerzy Żuławski Prize, the Śląkfa Award, and the Book of the Month Award from Magazyn Literacki KSIĄŻKI. He has been nominated for the Angelus Central European Literary Award, Stanisław Barańczak Awards, the Poznań Literary Prize, the J. Żuławski Literary Award, the NIKE Literary Award, and twice for the Janusz A. Zajdl Literary Award. He has won a Młoda Polska Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2017).

He has published in Angora, Miesięcznik ZNAK, Newsweek, Nowa Fantastyka, Polityka, Przekrój, and Tygodnik Powszechny. He also translates literature from the English language.

Małecki’s work (like that of other writers of his generation, such as Łukasz Orbitowski and Szczepan Twardoch) emerged out of fantasy, gradually evolving toward more realist prose, with a small dose of horror and the uncanny. His characteristic style crystallized in the bestselling, critically acclaimed, and award-winning novel Shudder.

Małecki is inspired by paintings and photographs, he uses the stories he hears and mixes in a touch of the grotesque, the surreal, or the symbolic. He also transforms autobiographical themes: his works are set in the old Kujawy-Pomeranian Voivodeship (the author’s place of origin), Poznań, or Warsaw, where he has lived; as a onetime analyst and financial adviser, he has some of his protagonists work in the credit departments of banks (The Miracle Smuggler, Shudder). His books abound with sociological micro-observations, particularly when it comes to block-apartment dwellers (Josef, Errors) and the transformations of the Polish countryside (especially in Shudders, whose action most resembles a saga: it reaches back before World War II, covering the lives of three generations of Łabendowiczes and Gelds against a backdrop of stormy historical and social developments).

The writer populates his prose with powerful and world-weary women, men battling addictions, and oversensitive children, and is particularly keen to depict the experience of otherness. His protagonists are outcasts, cripples, wracked by obsessions like Chwaścior in Traces, or albinos, like Wiktor in Shudder or Stasio Baryłczak in Josef. Rejected by their surroundings or freely abandoning their communities they dive into an alternative world, often hovering between brilliance and sickness or mania. God and evil seem eternally at war – in each book the writer creates a gallery of ethically equivocal characters. He owes a great debt to his beloved moralist authors: in Errors, this is Mikhail Bulgakov, in Josef – Joseph Conrad.

Małecki intersects people’s stories, generally dramatic ones laced with horror, full of suffering and anxiety. He is happiest to let their lives play out – from their births to the crowning moment of their triumphant death. He introduces surreal motifs, like a curse or a prophecy (this explains the critics’ tendency to can him a “magical realist,” which he rejects), but he admits a common-sense, much more tragic interpretation of human existence, as guiltless misfortune. He is fascinated by the problem of fate, chance, and the chain of semi-conscious life decisions, most clearly exhibited in Traces, a book that weaves story-portraits into an overriding plot, eluding genre definitions. His prose is fond of blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality, particularly in the portraits of passionate readers who inhabit the stories: Iks in Errors, Irena Łabendowicz in Shudder, and especially Czwarty in Josef seek an escape and salvation in books.

Anna Spólna

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Błędy, Lublin: Red Horse, 2008.
• Przemytnik cudu, Lublin: Red Horse, 2008.
• Zaksięgowani, Warszawa: Powergraph, 2009.
• Dżozef, Warszawa: W.A.B., 2011.
• W odbiciu, Warszawa: Powergraph, 2011.
• Odwrotniak, Warszawa: WAB, 2013.
• Dygot, Kraków: Sine Qua Non, 2015.
• Ślady, Kraków: Sine Qua Non, 2016.
• Rdza, Kraków: Sine Qua Non, 2017.

• Nikt nie idzie, Kraków: Sine Qua Non, 2018.

• Historie podniebne, Kraków: Sine Qua Non, 2019.

• Horyzont, Kraków: Sine Qua Non, 2019.

novels:

• Dłonie, „Science Fiction, Fantasy i Horror“ 3/2007.
• Cyryl, „Magazyn Fantastyczny“ 11/2007.
• Śmierć szklanego Kazimierza, „Nowa Fantastyka“ 11/2007.
• Opowieść oszusta, antologia Trupojad: Nie ma ocalenia, Lublin: Red Horse, 2007.
• Oko, „Nowa Fantastyka“ 9/2008.
• Każdy umiera za siebie, Antologia Nowe idzie,  Warszawa: Powergraph, 2008.
• Opowieść o złodzieju liter, „Lśnienie“ 1/2009.
• Płuca w płomieniach, antologia City 1, Szczecin: Forma, 2009.
• Pantomima starego niedołęgi, „Nowa Fantastyka“ 2/2010.
• Michał, „Science Fiction, Fantasy i Horror“ 10/2010.
• Radość Hetmana, antologia 11 cięć, Zakrzewo: Replika, 2011.
• Drzypapa, antologia Herosi, Warszawa: Powergraph, 2012.
• Dziś mam na imię Agata, antologia Pożądanie, Warszawa: Powergraph, 2013.
• Sztuka w zaścianku, „Nowa Fantastyka” 8/2013.
• Wydmy, „Miesięcznik Znak”, 705/2014.
• Krótka opowieść o dwóch mężczyznach, z których jeden nie żyje, „Chimera" 2/2014.
• Utracone światy Nino Sandovala, „Nowa Fantastyka” 6/2014.
• Zwyczajny gigant, antologia Legendy Polskie, Allegro, 2015.
• Puch, "Magazyn Pocisk" 5-6/2016.
• M. Historia podniebna, "Przekrój" 3/2017.

POLISH TRANSLATIONS

• Kevin Wilson, Rodzina na pokaz, Warszawa: Pruszyński i S-ka, 2012.
• Aleksandar Tešić, Zakon smoka, Warszawa: Pruszyński i S-ka, 2012.
• Sarah Rayner, Jedna chwila, Warszawa: Pruszyński i S-ka, 2013.
• Paul Lieberman, Gangster Squad, Pogromcy mafii, Warszawa: Pruszyński Media, 2013 (z Magdą Witkowską).
• Aleida March, Mój Che. Bardzo intymnie,  Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2014.
• T. J. Murphy, Sprawność, siła, witalność. Jak CrossFit® zmienił moje życie,  Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2014.
• Jeremy Scahill, Brudne wojny, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2014.
• Shaun Usher (zebr. i oprac.), Listy niezapomniane, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2015.
• Mike Tyson i Larry Sloman, Moja prawda, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2015.
• Antony Beevor, Artemis Cooper, Paryż wyzwolony,  Kraków: Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak, 2015.
• Christmas Abbott i Maggie Greenwood-Robinson, Piekielnie twarda sztuka. Ćwiczenia i dieta dla zuchwałych, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2016.
• N.K. Jemisin, PiĄta pora roku, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2016.
• Tris Dixon, Floyd Mayweather: najdroższe pięści świata, wstęp Janusz Pindera,  Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2016 (z Bartoszem Sałbutem).
• John Scalzi, Wojna starego człowieka, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Akurat - Muza, 2016.
• Joe de Sena i Jeff O'Connell, Spartan up! Bądź jak Spartanin, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2016.
• Ronda Rousey i Maria Burns Ortiz, Moja walka / Twoja walka, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2016.
• Shaun Usher (zebr. i oprac.), Listy niezapomniane, t.2, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2016.
• N.K. Jemisin, Wrota obelisków, Kraków: SQN Imaginatio - Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2017.
• George Harrar, Sieć podejrzeń, Warszawa: Wielka Litera, 2017.
• Simon Kuper i Stefan Szymański, Futbonomia, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2017.
• Tarryn Fisher, Ciemna strona, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Sine Qua Non, 2017.