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OFF_press
Contemporary Polish Writing in Translation
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In preparation for the launch of Michael Moran’s A Country in the Moon
in Polish translation, click the link below to see Lilian Tietjen interviewing
the author last year, as part of our OFF_ filming trip across Poland.
OFF_VIDEO – Interview with Michael Moran
to buy the book in Polish, click on the image of the cover to the right…
Justyna Daniluk zaprasza na dyskusję z Piotrem Czerwińskim,
autorem powieści, organizowana przez Swiat Ksiazki Polska.
Książka – jak pisze Czerwiński – opowiada o turystach, ponieważ
wszyscyśmy turyści i każdy podróżuje. Niektórzy nie wracają
z podróży i to jest dokładnie taki rodzaj turystów, o
których jest ta książka. Ponadto opowiada o szaleństwie,
too, bo tylko walnięci turyści kupują tickety w jedną stronę,
tak jak my. Szaleństwo, tak myślę, to kinda największy sport
dwudziestego pierwszego wieku.
Swoje poezje – komentarze współczesności zaśpiewa i zagra Paweł Gawroński.
Ta joj!
Date: Friday, 19 March 2010
Time: 18:30 – 21:30
Location: Jazz Cafe, POSK
“He has been voted the greatest journalist of the 20th century.”
By the same species which made Simon Cowell and Joseph J Hitler millionaires.
Click on the photo if you want the Guardian to explain…
Think you can do better, write in, we’ll publish it.
Thursday 4 March, 6-9pm
Ben Pimlot Lecture Theatre
Goldsmiths, University of London
Lewisham Way, New Cross,
London SE14 6NW
The book Bombing of Poems over Warsaw documents a public intervention during which 80 poems by contemporary Polish and Chilean poets were dropped from a helicopter over the Castle Square and The Old Town.
Warsaw is the fourth city after Santiago de Chile, Dubrovnik and Guernica where The Bombing of Poems has taken place. Professor John Hutnyk and Cristóbal Bianchi on behalf of Casagrande will introduce the book. The event will also feature the screening of a film documenting the intervention in Warsaw.
Drinks will be served.
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Last Thursday of the Month by Deconstruction Project presents
“Made in Polska” music session
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@BEDROOM BAR, RIVINGTON STREET
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Thursday, 25 February 2010
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Time: 20:00 – 23:00
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OFF_ will be there…
Interview with Piotr Czerwinski – Justyna Daniluk
They say you are the voice of the most recent wave of Polish migration…
That voice means over two million desperados, if I correctly recall the latest statistics. They speak for themselves, with their own voices. In fact it’s more than speech, they shout, though no one seems to want to listen or is pretending not to. I only speak for some, perhaps unwittingly for others, but certainly not in the name of them all. In fact, I’m pretty sure I only speak for myself! But thank you for the compliment. Without reverting to metaphor, I think it’s quite a responsibility, to speak on behalf of others, especially in the name of a vast group of others. Also, belonging to such a group is a challenge. All my life I’ve avoided being “part” of anything like the plague. I’ve never identified with anyone and anything else, refused to make declarations, display emblems, wear ideals on my sleeve. I was afraid my independence would be lost, which is after all not to be surrendered. But it’s only since I emigrated that I finally realised that I do identify with some kind of “crowd”, that I belong to it, and that I’m actually proud of the fact, that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. It happened when I was watching the news on British television and heard a newsreader say something about Poles, maybe even “the Polish problem” in this part of the world, as it seems a few people are fans of this phrase. And then I understood that I am one of these Poles. One of them, one of US. This was hard, trust me, it cut me in half. Being cut in half is another thing which I’ve avoided like the plague, for as long as a I could.
In “Przebiegum Życiae” I pose the question: “Are we different? No, hell, not at all. Only our surnames are spelt different, but this means nothing, no one can pronounce them anyway, no one apart from us. We are the union of many in one, one person who’s received a collective kick up the arse…”
Getting busy today putting the book together, if you have any feedback on which design you prefer, feedback to us!
marek OFF_
From today’s Guardian:
“Get an accountant, abstain from sex and similes, cut, rewrite, then cut and rewrite again – if all else fails, pray. Inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, we asked authors for their personal dos and don’ts…”
to read on, click on Andrzej Krauze’s illustration…
Well, not really new… those familiar to OFF_ will have seen this short, strange vid of an eviction party from London last year before…
But we’re still learning the ropes of embedding and htmling and all that web jazz, so bear with us…
And check out Pawel Gawronski’s song, midway through, even if you have heard it before!
marek@off-press.org
Based on the following principles;
- cover will be glossy, therefore must be light (wears better)
- must display an image which speaks for all the pieces inside
- must be contemporary
- must take into account readers’ tastes
- should lead the way for future OFF_ covers
Look forward to your ideas and feedback!
marek@off-press.org
Slava Mogutin fled Russia for New York in 1995. His outspoken writing on gay issues had sparked anonymous death threats, made him the conservative media’s favourite whipping boy and triggered a criminal case that could have resulted in a seven-year prison sentence. He had grown up on a diet of Georges Bataille and Jean Genet, and was the first to translate the work of Dennis Cooper and William Burroughs into Russian. Upon his arrival in New York he jumped the language barrier by shifting his focus to photography.
Read the interview with this tongue, genre, sex and political pioneer in 3:AM Magazine by clicking the photo…
Polish Writing’s stimulating interview with Soren Gauger, Krakow-based Canadian translator.
Click on image to read…
Bio below… for Polish readers, more of same po polsku na indepenedent.pl
Soren A. Gauger grew up and was educated in Vancouver Canada. He moved to Krakow, Poland in 1998 to study Polish language and literature. Having taught literature at Jagiellonian University, he is now a freelance writer and translator, regularly contributing articles on culture to The Krakow Post and Month in Krakow. His fiction has appeared in journals internationally, including Capilano Review, Chicago Review, Jacob’s Ladder, and Prague Literary Review, as well as a chapbook of short stories, Quatre Regards sur L’Enfant Jesus (Ravenna Press, 2004). His translations include Waiting for the Dog to Sleep by Jerzy Ficowski and Wojciech Jagielski’s Towers of Stone (Seven Stories Press), and he is currently translating Bruno Jasienski’s novel I Burn Paris, to be published by Twisted Spoon Press.
… being launched 01/03/10 in London, reviews for your pleasure below…
Dalager’s empathy with his subject is fervent and he is a skilled writer , having accrued a distinguished reputation in Europe with five novels and a number of plays.
Michael Faber, The Guardian
How was it possible for Stig Dalager to write about the last years of the story of David in such a shocking and convincing way that one should think that this was written by Isaac B. Singer or one of the other Polish-Jewish geniuses?
Jewish Information Magazine
Dalager has written a shockingly relevant historical novel, a tautstory of international standing and appeal. A monument to our ownshame, at that time and now.
Politiken Newspaper, DenmarkReviews
click on image to read more at the Polish Cultural Institute website
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The philosopher and writer Krystin Lach-Szyrma came to Britain in 1820 as tutor to two Polish princes, as their Grand Tour took them to Enlightenment Scotland, where they spent two years studying at Edinburgh University. After a short tour of continental Europe they returned in 1822 to England to enjoy the delights of London and observe its monuments and people.
Over a period of 18 months they visited prisons, hospitals and factories as well as art galleries and museums and were entertained by individuals of the calibre of Elizabeth Fry and Robert Owen. The philosopher and his princely charges familiarised themselves with the Houses of Parliament the Stock Exchange and Westminster Abbey, but were also intrigued by London’s inns and theatres. Looking at the capital’s financial, religious and academic institutions, they analysed its class system and law-and-order problems, pondering such issues as the origins of the term ‘Cockney’ and the nature of English breakfasts.
Translated for the first time, Lach-Szyrma’s record of London life retains its original freshness and offers new insights into the rapidly evolving city.
To get on the guest list, email the Polish Cultural Institute…
Polish Adventures in Ireland
Written in a Brit-Pol jargon, this is the story of two very different Poles, both of whom have gone to seek their fortunes in the Emerald Eire. Working in a Dublin factory, their days are filled with mind-warping monotony. To counter its effects, they escape into a surreal world of cartoons, music and daydreams about the return of the Little Prince. Involving, original and wildly relevant, this is the kind of fairytale no one expected…
Polak w Irlandii
Napisana polsko-angielskim żargonem historia dwóch pozornie różnych Polaków, którzy za chlebem wyjechali do Irlandii. Pracują w dublińskiej fabryce, ich zajęcie jest tak ogłupiające, że aby nie oszaleć, uciekają w surrealistyczny świat kreskówek, muzyki i fantazji o powrocie Małego Księcia. Przejmująca, napisana oryginalnym językiem rzecz o nadziei i marzeniach, które wcale nie muszą się spełnić.
For English Lang OFF_ readers, a rare treat – something you can’t yet read – Piotr Czerwinski’s recent novel about migrant life in Dublin has been published to wide acclaim in Poland… OFF_ are now trying to do something about it being translated to Ingleesh. Fingers crossed, the interview below will also meet the same fate soon;
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Riverside Studios, The Barbican, BFI Southbank, Tate Modern, Prince Charles Cinema, Tricycle Cinema, West London Synagogue…
If that list of locations isn’t getting you curious, the full film line up should;
the winner of the Golden Lion at this year’s Polish Film Festival, Borys Lankosz’s Reverse, Michal Rosa’s Scratch, Jacek Boruch’s All That I Love, Bartek Konopka’s Oscar shortlisted, Rabbit a la Berlin, Xawery Zulawski’s Snow White, Russian Red, Marcin Wrona’s My Flesh My Blood and Pawel Borowski’s Zero.
click on the logo to the right to enter Kinoteka…
