Wiktoria Bieżuńska, “Cena. In Search of Jewish Children After the War” by Anna Bikont, “Trash Story” by Mateusz Górniak, “Gdynia Promised. City, Modernism, Modernization 1920-1939” by Grzegorz Piątek, “He Laughs” “Who Has Teeth” by Zyta Rudzka, “Years of Practice” by Piotr Sommer and “Flicker. From the End of Greenland” by Ilona Wiśniewska are seven books that were included in this year’s finals.
Last year, the jury awarded Nike to Jerzy Jarniewicz for the volume of poetry “Mondo Cane”. Will Piotr Sommer, as the only representative of poets, repeat this success? We’ll see in a few weeks. The winner will be announced, as always, on the first Sunday in October. The winner receives 100,000. PLN and a statuette designed by Gustaw Zemła. This year, the jury is chaired by Inga Iwasiów, and it also includes: Marek Beylin, Przemysław Czapliński, Justyna Jaworska, Tadeusz Nyczek, Masha Potocka, Krzysztof Siwczyk, Maria Topczewska and Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz.
Nike Literary Award. More about the finalists
Wiktoria Bieżuńska “When I cross the threshold, I will whistle” – a novel. ed. Cyranka, Warsaw
Home, parents and grandmother, a gray, unfriendly and dwarf world seen through the eyes of a girl. The whole viewed photographically, as if from the inside and outside, real and deformed at the same time. Written in a short, simple, realistic sentence.
“Grandma whistles clear and high. I try to do the same, but it doesn’t work. Because that’s not how you blow, says Grandma. You have to. Put your tongue down. I try to look between her fleshy lips. I pull my muscles towards my protruding lips. I make a quiet sound, still like the wind. See how you can do it? You can do it beautifully, says Grandma. No, I say, I can’t. You can, you can, she nods. And now together. Grandma closes her eyes. She whistles. Louder and higher. I join her. She’s like a bird, and I’m like the wind. From underneath, I stroke the branch she’s sitting on.”
Anna Bikont, “Cena. In search of Jewish children after the war” – reportage, Wyd. Black, Beef
A story about the post-war fate of Jewish children who survived the Holocaust. A reminder that for the Jews the war did not end in 1945.
Anna Bikont got on the “Majzels list” a few years ago. The names and surnames of Jewish children bought by the envoy of the Central Committee of Jews in Poland from their Polish guardians moved the reporter. Bikont wanted to find traces of at least a few people in the notebook.
“There are two notebooks, 16 squared sheets, A5 format. They have gray-blue cardboard covers with a faded inscription: “Report on a business trip of L. Majzels regarding the search for children in the hands of Poles”. which he arrived, whether he found a child and how much it can be bought for. The buyer is the Jewish nation. (…) After seventy years, I set out in Majzels’ footsteps.”
Mateusz Górniak, “Trash story” – a novel, Wyd. Ha!Art Corporation, Krakow
Mateusz Górniak challenges traditional narratives, gives voice to objects and cartoon characters. Makes a world out of waste. The relationship between the cartoon heroes, Cow and Chicken, can be as inspiring and moving as an ancient tragedy, Górniak seems to say.
“I loved coming to grandma’s for a night out. After my bath, my mum smeared my face with nivea, dressed me in pajamas and slippers, and then I would run downstairs to see an episode of M jak miłość with my grandma, eat cheese sandwiches and lie down with her in the bedroom, in which there was a large wooden cross with spikes.Before going to bed, we said Our Father, Hail Mary and prayer for the dead, and then I asked my grandmother for stories about World War II, about gangs,
who prowled our town, the Russians, who shot alarm clocks because they didn’t know what it was, and about life in constant danger. Grandma never tire of telling me what she remembered from her childhood, and over time I began to want to experience the same in my own way while playing Call of Duty.”
Grzegorz Piątek, “Gdynia promised. City, modernism, modernization 1920-1939” – historical reportage, Wyd. WAB, Warsaw
A story about the myth of the city and the myth of Polish modernization – Gdynia as a symbol of the economic success of the interwar period, an urban achievement and the success of imagination. Who and when promised us Gdynia is difficult to determine today. Grzegorz Piątek recreates the story of building the Gdynia myth step by step.
“Gdynia is a small America, but really small. The houses here were not high enough for lifts to make sense for some time. In the early 1930s, a four-story tenement house with a corner belvedere and a high ground floor, made of brick and with wooden ceilings, was called a skyscraper. ( …) Following the capital, people came to Gdynia – from other regions, but also from abroad, and the Tower of Babel grew despite the confusion of languages. The city was almost perfectly white, ethnically Polish, and therefore paradoxically not very Polish.”
Zyta Rudzka, “He who has teeth laughs” – a novel, Wyd. WAB, Warsaw
Biedaodyseja, a monologue by Wera, a former hairdresser who has just become a widow and, increasingly poor, wanders through Warsaw to get things necessary for her husband’s burial: she is looking for shoes, clothes, vodka for the wake.
“It is a pity that he did not live to see his funeral, so that he would see that no one came. Only strangers, it doesn’t count. I attended the funeral without understanding, I got up, I knelt when I shouldn’t. I knew something was wrong. I had no memory at all to forget myself. Priest – as promised – old. But quick. How long was it, twenty minutes and after the celebration “.
Piotr Sommer, “Years of practice” – poetry Wyd. WBPiCAK, Poznań
The first volume of poetry in 12 years by Piotr Sommer – the legendary translator and editor. In Sommer’s poems, there appears a cheerful subject, though not reconciled, remembering and tender, but not nostalgic and not at all sentimental. Often ironic.
Tomorrow
which does not come because or was
yesterday or the day after tomorrow. And tomorrow
with a trip to the zoo, with a child,
or to the Bathrooms, with a crumbled roll
for fish and swans. Where is tomorrow
We’re going to make a cardboard plane.
Nothing is known about tomorrow.
Ilona Wiśniewska, “Flicker. From the End of Greenland” – reportage, Wyd. Black, Beef
A reporter’s story about people living in the northern reaches of Europe, away from the hustle and bustle, where Greenland ends. In recent years, the Inughuit world – not least because of the climate catastrophe – has shrunk dramatically. They fight for survival, they face difficult everyday life, but as those who were reached by Wiśniewska assure, they will not be displaced, they will stay at home until the end.
In the middle of the day, the cool September sun casts a glow on mighty icebergs, freezing seas and wasted skin. Not long ago, it didn’t set at all. Now, sunrises and sunsets stretching over many hours break several hours of darkness. everyday life. People, street lamps and wooden crosses cast the longest shadows on the treeless landscape.”
In addition to the jury’s award, the readers of “Gazeta Wyborcza” also award their distinctions. Last year, they focused on the historical report “Them. Homosexuals during World War II” by Joanna Ostrowska. This year’s edition of the “Nike” Literary Award is supported by Amazon.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
