Tokarczuk’s son did not go to communion. He had an initiation. There was a “ceremonial cutting of long hair”

Olga Tokarczuk is currently one of the most popular Polish writers and essayists. She made her debut in the late 1970s, publishing stories in the scout magazine “Na przełaj”. Her first novel was “The Journey of the People of the Book”, published in 1993, which became a sensation among readers and launched her professional career. Today, she has many outstanding titles to her credit, for which she was awarded the Literary Award in 2019.

Olga Tokarczuk studied psychology. She was 24 when she gave birth to her son

Few know that he is a psychologist by profession. While studying at the University of Warsaw, she worked with people with mental problems, which she continued after moving to Wałbrzych, working in one of the local counseling centers. In the meantime, she met a colleague, Roman Fingas, whom she married in 1985, and the fruit of this marriage is her only son, Zbyszko. – In 1990, I had already written my first novel, “The Journey of the People of the Book”, but it was still far from being published. At that time, I was a psychotherapist very involved in my work and the mother of a three-year-old son. I gave birth to him when I was 24, I got married a year earlier – in the pages of “Twój Styl”, without hiding the fact that she was not a stereotypical parent. Why?

Tokarczuk’s son did not have a typical childhood. What does Zbyszko Fingas do today?

Tokarczuk raised her son in the spirit of her own values ​​and beliefs. Some time ago, in an interview with “Wysokie Obcasy”, she admitted that Zbyszko was not baptized, therefore he did not receive his first Holy Communion, and also did not attend classes. – Instead of communion, we initiated him, had a big bonfire, ceremonially cut off his long hair, he got gifts – she mentioned the ceremony, referring to pagan rituals.

While Tokarczuk and Fingas were working, their son was under the care of his grandparents. This did not change even when they decided to move to the countryside. The writer wanted Zbyszko to have access to good education. She knew that while she and her husband would be absorbed in their duties, there would be no one to take care of them.

– Zbyszek’s father was also a psychologist, we ran integration groups and interpersonal training. We left the child with our grandparents. When we moved to the countryside, Zbyszko stayed with them in the city because we did not want to fund him a village school, which was 6 km away through the mountains – revealed the Nobel laureate. In 2023, Zbyszko celebrated his 37th birthday and, like his parents, he became professionally involved in psychology. He has a special bond with his famous mother. It was he who accompanied Tokarczuk when she received the Nobel Prize.