Liter[r]a [eng]

In Latin, the word litera refers to both a graphic symbol and the entire body of literary works. Literature is an important and special form of culture – both dialogic and self-reflective. This unique quality manifests on an individual, social, intercultural and geopolitical levels. Hence the significance of efforts to ensure mutual cross-fertilisation of literatures from different linguistic areas and intensive circulation of literary works on a global scale. Liter[r]a is our expression of care and efforts to promote Polish literary works abroad and support people who are able to take on literary translation challenges: linguistic, cultural, artistic, social and political.

In a world where communication increasingly assumes the form of slogans and memes, literature provides us with a unique opportunity to understand ourselves and each other to the fullest, also across borders. The Liter[r]a series of translation workshops and author meetings consists of eight events devoted to contemporary Polish literature, organised in four most important cultural and academic centres in Europe: Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Amsterdam.

The dialogic dimension of literature is reflected in the very formula of Liter[r]a events, where we host the co-creators of the intercultural literary dialogue, i.e. authors and translators of their works. During specialist translation workshops, their dialogue will be shared with university students of the Polish language and culture, translation trainees and people keen to explore such professional opportunity. The evening meetings with authors, which are open to a wider audience of experts curators, academics, media and, above all, the community of readers, provide space for an in-depth discussion of the vital role of literary translation as a form of co-creation of contemporary literary texts, as well as the reception and the dialogic potential of Polish literature in individual countries and language areas.

The Liter[r]a series is an initiative of the Olga Tokarczuk Foundation, implemented in cooperation with foreign partners, with the financial support of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the Promotion of Polish Culture Abroad programme for 2025.

On 21 May 2025, in collaboration with Humboldt University in Berlin, we will organize the translation masterclass co-led by Karolina Kuszyk and Bernhard Hartmann, based on the German translation of Karolina Kuszyk’s Poniemieckie (In den Häusern der anderen. Spuren deutscher Vergangenheit in Westpolen,  published by Christoph Links Verlag). The book tells a story of the foreign that becomes familiar. It provides a brand new perspective on the complex history of Polish-German relations, presented through the biographies of everyday objects and houses, silent witnesses to the absence of their former owners. The entwined fates of objects and people, whose reconstruction is based on new settlers’ testimonies, interviews with experts and German treasure hunters, and in-depth conversations with three generations of people living in former German homes, has sparked a lively debate on the German heritage inn Poland. In 2024, Karolina Kuszyk and Bernhard Hartmann have jointly received the Georg Dehio Prize, awarded annually to authors and books that contribute to the dissemination of German culture and history in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2020, the author was awarded the Arthur Kronthal Prize by the Kommission für die Geschichte der Deutschen in Polenin Marburg.

Later that day, Brigitta Helbig-Mischewski will host the evening meeting with the author and translator in the Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum Auditorium in the university library building.