Literature events
 The first HISTORY of POLAND in Hebrew
The
leaflet Sipurah shel Polin bat 1000 shanim is presently the only
item on the subject of the Polish history in Hebrew. It was written
by a well known Israeli journalist and translator Yoram Bronowski
together with the Polish Ambassador in Israel in the years
1999-2003, Dr. Maciej Kozlowski. In barely 80 pages they managed to
tell about the major events in the history of the Polish country,
from the time of its creation till Poland’s joining the European
Union in 2004. The text of the leaflet is enriched with
illustrations and maps and reading is enhanced by excellent
satirical drawings by Slawomir Mrozek. The second edition, enlarged
with a chronology and biographies of the main figures will be
published by the Carmel Publishing House by the end of 2005. Sipurah
shel Polin bat 1000 shanim, Yoram Bronowski, Maciej Kozlowski,
published by the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, 2003, 80
pages
The Polish Example
During the first 500 years of its existence starting around 1000
C.E., Poland achieved the status of a major European power. Then, in
the seventeenth century, the Polish State gradually declined until
it lost its independence at the end of the eighteenth century. That
process of gradual rise to power and quick downfall faithfully
reproduces the great historical allegory of the rise and fall of
ancient Rome, the cardinal pattern and example in European history.
What is significant is that the Polish example is more recent and
one from which conclusions may be drawn, for there are lessons to be
learnt from history. The tale of Polish rise and decline reads like
a thrilling adventure novel, crowded with heroic military and
political action, as well as cultural links with different
countries, both near and remote. It is not an accident that Poland
is the subject of many historical films. The contemporary
homogeneity of the Polish nation should not deceive us. That nation
was built by assimilating many ethnic groups and many cultures.
Everyone agrees that the Jewish nation and Jewish culture played a
significant part in that process, although that important fragment
of Polish history ended in the largest tragedy known to man. The
history of Poland is so rich and complex that any attempt at
summarizing it could only encourage getting to know it more in
detail.
Philospoher Leszek
Kołakowski – winner of the Jerusalem Prize
(the announcement
in Hebrew)
(C) ELZBIETA LEMPP
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We are happy
to inform that the winner of this year’s
Jerusalem Prize is professor
Leszek
Kołakowski, the most prominent contemporary
Polish philosopher, writer, essayist and
columnist.
The Jerusalem Prize is granted every two years
during the International Book Fair in Jerusalem
www.jerusalembookfair.com
to a writer whose works deal with the issues of
human freedom, society, politics or government.
Leszek Kołakowski is the second Pole to receive
this prestigious award. In 1991, it was granted
to
Zbigniew Herbert.
The Jerusalem Prize shall be awarded on the
first day of the Book Fair, on February 18, at
18:00 pm.
Jerusalem Prize winners so far: Antonio Lobo
Antunes (2005), Arthur Miller (2003), Susan
Sontag (2001), Don DeLillo (1999), Jorge Semprun
(1997), Mario Vargas Llosa (1995), Stefan Heym
(1993),
Zbigniew Herbert
(a new page with info about him, no 2) (1991),
Ernesto Sabato (1989), J. M. Coetzee (1987),
Milan Kundera (1985), V. S. Naipaul (1983),
Graham Greene (1981), Isaiah Berlin (1979),
Octavio Paz (1977), Simone de Beauvoir (1975),
Eugčne Ionesco (1973), Jorge Luis Borges (1971),
Ignazio Silone (1969), Andre Schwarz-Bart
(1967), Max Frisch (1965), Bertrand Russell
(1963). |
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23rd
International Book Fair in Jerusalem
February 18 - 23, 2007, Binyanei Ha’Uma,
Jerusalem
In cooperation with
The guests of the Polish stand,
organised by the Book Institute in Cracow, will be:
Olga
Tokarczuk, Andrzej Sapkowski and the journalist
Pawel
Smolenski. During the Fair there shall also be a promotion of
the book:
„Facing Memory – The Polish Account. Anthology of
contemporary Polish essays”
Meetings with writers:
 Monday, February 19th
17:00 – promotion of the book „Facing Memory – The Polish
Account. Anthology of contemporary Polish essays”
Jerusalem, The Van Lear Jerusalem Institute, 43 Jabotinsky St.,
phone 02-5605222
19:30 - "Andrzej Sapkowski’s introduction to Polish fantasy".
The meeting with the writer shall be moderated by prof. Aharon
Hauptman
Tel Awiw, „Little Prince”, 3, Simta Plonit St. (access from King
George 16), phone 03-629 93 87
Tuesday, February 20th
13:00 – Book signing: Maria Lewińska
Polish stand at the Jerusalem Book Fair (531)
19:00 - meeting with Pawel Smolenski moderated by
Sever Plotzker (journalist of Yedioth Acharonot)
Tel Awiw, Tola’at Sfarim (Book Worm), Kikar Rabin 9, phone
03-5298499, 03-5298490
20:00 - meeting with Olga Tokarczuk and moderated by Miri Paz
(journalist and translator)
Tel Awiw, Tola’at Sfarim (Book Worm), Kikar Rabin 9, phone
03-5298499, 03-5298490
Wednesday, February 21
18:00 – Literary cafe, meeting with Pawel Smolenski
and journalist Uri Dromi
Jerozolima, Binyaney ha’uma
19:30 – Book signing: Paweł Smoleński
Polish stand at the Jerusalem Book Fair (531)
19:30 – promotion of the book „Facing Memory – the Polish
Account. Anthology of contemporary Polish essays”
Tel Awiw, Tzomet Sfarim „Sifrija” Dizengoff Center, entrance 6, II
floor (above the Home Center), phone 03-620 59 86
Thursday, February 22,
11.30 - Literary cafe, meeting with Olga Tokarczuk and
writer Ronit Matalon
Jerozolima, Binyaney ha’uma
13:00 – Book signing; Olga Tokarczuk
Polish stand at the Jerusalem Book Fair (531)
18:00 – Literary cafe, meeting with phantasy writers:
Andrzej Sapkowski and Shimon Adaf
Jerusalem, Binyaney ha’uma
19:30 - Book signing: Andrzej Sapkowski
Polish stand at the Jerusalem Book Fair (531)
* Translation into Hebrew stall be provided during all the meetings
 Olga
Tokarczuk writes novels and essays and is the most widely
admired Polish autor of her generation. Her first novel was The
Journey of the people of the Book (1993). Her novel Prawiek and
Other Times (1996) was a great success and widely acclaimed. It is
considered to be the high point in modern Polish mythical fiction.
In 2006, published by the Znak publishing house, appeared her latest
novel Anna in the Catacombs in which Tokarczuk revives one of the
oldest myths known to man – the story of the Sumerian goddess
Inanna. The book forms part of the “Myths” series that contains the
most important myths or legends retold by contemporary writers such
as J.M. Coetzee, G.G. Marquez, Toni Morrison, Isabel Allende, Zadie
Smith and John Irving.
Additional
information
Book
excerpts in Hebrew translation
 Andrzej
Sapkowski – most famous fantasy tales and novels’ author in
Poland, who made this kind of literature popular, a man of success.
His debut was a tale “The Witcher” which won enthusiastic applause
amongst the lovers of fantastic literature. His short stories
collection that followed, grounded Sapkowski’s leading position in
creating the Polish version of fantasy literature. The special mark
of the early works of this writer is the motive of polemics with the
popular tales and folk legends, as well as his arrogant look on the
Polish fantasy literature as he found it.
Additional
information
Book
excerpts in Hebrew translation
 Pawel
Smolenski – reporter, publicist, journalist at „Gazeta
Wyborcza”. Last year, he published a collection of essays/reportages
„Israel doesn’t fly anymore” in which he shows today’s Israel
through interviews with its inhabitants. The author wonderfully
succeded in depicting the multidimentionality of the Promised Land,
a mixture of fear and hope, unknown to the Polish reader till now.
Additional information
Excerpts of
reportages in Hebrew translation
“Facing Memory – the
Polish Account. Anthology of contemporary Polish essays”
selection, edition and translation by Miri Paz
In February 2007, at the initiative
of the Polish Institute, the publishing house Ha’kibbutz Ha’meuhad
publishes, in the series Kav Adom Library, a collection of essays by
Polish intellectuals, entitled “Facing Memory – Polish Account”
with Miri Paz’s edition and translation. It is the first time
for the Israeli reader to become acquainted with the most important
voices of Polish thinkers, culture specialists, critics, taking part
in this common discourse about memory, relation to history, war,
Holocaust and Jews. Attempts to face this theme had already been
made when still under communists’ rule, but only after
reestablishment of democracy they got a rhythm, and embraced large
milieus of intellectuals.
Program of Anthology promotion meetings:
Monday, February 19, 2007, at
17:00, Jerusalem
The Van Lear Jerusalem Institute, 43 Jabotinsky St., phone
02-5605222
Opening words:
Mrs. Agnieszka Magdziak – Miszewska – Ambassador of the Republic of
Poland to Israel
Dr Elzbieta Frister – Director of the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv
First session: 17:00 – 18:30
Public discourse about the Polish-Jewish past at the beginning of
the XXI century
Miri Paz – translator and editor
About the book „Facing Memory – The Polish Account”
Prof. Robert Wistrich – historian, Faculty of Israel’s
History, Hebrew University
Poles and Jews afer World War II
Anna Bikont – writer, journalist at the „Gazeta Wyborcza”
How today's inhabitants of Jedwabne view the atrocity committed in
1941
Prof. Szewach Weiss – political science expert, former
Ambassador of Israel to Poland
The Polish Account viewed by an Israeli residing in Poland
Break
Second session: 19:00 – 20:00
Confronting the past during Communist rule and in the nineties
Dr Andrzej Zbikowski – historian, IPN, ŻIH
The Polish Underground and its relations with the Jews
Dr Havi Ben Sason – historian, the Skolion Inter-faculty
Judaic Research Center, Hebrew University
Jewish perspective of Poland and of Poles during World War II
Dr Maciej Kozłowski – historian, former Ambassador of the
Republic of Poland to Israel
Discussion about Anti-Semitism – from 1956 to 1978
*lectures in Hebrew and Polish with translation
Wednesday, February 21, 2007, at 19:30
Tel Awiw, Tzomet Sfarim „Sifrija” Dizengoff Center, entrance 6, II
floor (above the Home Center), phone 03-620 59 86
Opening words:
Giora Rosen – editor of the Red Line series
Agnieszka Kopycinska – Deputy Director of the Polish
Institute in Tel Aviv
Miri Paz – translator and editor
About the book „Facing memory –the Polish Account”
Dr Andrzej Zbikowski – historian, IPN, ŻIH
The Warsaw Uprising and the Jews
Anna Bikont – writer, journalist writing for the „Gazeta
Wyborcza”
Stages in confronting the past
Prof. Szewach Weiss – political science expert, former
Israeli Ambasador to Poland
Will there be a continuation of the Polish self-examination?
Giora Rosen – summing up
Lectures in Polish with Hebrew translation
Translation: Yaron Karol Becker
Admittance free of charge
Info available at 03-57 85 810 ext. 119
Promotion of Agata
Tuszyńska’s book
A Family History of
Fear
Wednesday, January 17, at 19:00
Moderator: Maria Lewińska
A Family Historyk
of Fear is a dramatic and
multidimensional story of Agata Tuszynska’s Polish and Jewish
ancestors. In it, the writer merged her experience as a biographist
with a personal non-fiction style which is a rarely practiced craft
in Poland. The Polish edition appeared in Poland in March, 2005 and
the French one in September, 2006.
Agata Tuszynska’s
story was one of the books nominated for the Medicis Award – one of
the most significant literary awards in France. The Amercian edition
is scheduled to appear in 2007.
* Due to the limited number of seats please call at 03 – 74 11 955
to confirm your attendance.
 Agata
Tuszynska, one of Poland’s most interesting writers, has been
successful in a broad range of literary genres: poetry, reportage,
documentary historical works, and biographies that consistently
reach bestseller status in her native country. Her work has been
published internationally to critical applause, including France and
the United States, and has been adapted to the stage. During the
last ten years, she has written extensively on Polish Jews and on
Polish-Jewish relations, adding her sensitive and thoughtful voice
to the often heated discourse.
Lost Landscapes, a personal search for the traces of Isaac Bashevis
Singer and the Jews of Poland, published in the U.S. in 1998,
brought the author excellent reviews in major English-language
media, including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The London
Times. She was praised for combining her moving, impressionistic
writing style with authoritative research, conducted in Poland, US,
France and Israel.
Les Disciples de Schulz, a series of essays on Polish Jews and
Polish-Jewish relations, published in France in 2001, met with a
similarly positive response from the critics and readers alike. Her
biography of Singer, which appeared in France a year later,
solidified Tuszyńska’s stature as a writer and as a specialist in
contemporary Polish-Jewish relations.
Born in Warsaw, Agata Tuszyńska attended the Academy of Drama and
Theatrical Arts there, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in
History of Drama. She started publishing in 1977, contributing
regularly to Poland's leading cultural magazines, writing primarily
about theatre and drama. For her scholarly work at the Institute of
Arts of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Tuszyńska received a Ph.D.
in humanities. A Fulbright Foundation Fellow, a member of the Polish
Writers Union and the Association of Drama Writers and Composers in
Warsaw, Tuszyńska is a recipient of the Polish PEN prize for
outstanding achievements in the field of reportage and nonfiction
writing.
In addition to her work as a historian and non-fiction writer,
Tuszyńska is a poet, with six poetry collections to her credit.
Among other languages, her poems have been translated into English,
French, Hebrew and Spanish.
Agata Tuszynska has recently completed A Family History of Fear, a
personal non-fiction book, to be published next year by Alfred A.
Knopf in New York. Polish and French editions will also appear in
2005.
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