Presented by the Polish Cultural Institute in London, Portobello, Quercus and Milet Publishing
KRAJEWSKI, TOCHMAN and MYCEK-WODECKI IN EDINBURGH
THE EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL
9-25 AUGUST 2008
Charlotte Square Gardens
www.edbookfest.co.uk
POLISH EVENTS:
PAULUS HOCHGATTERER
& MAREK KRAJEWSKI
Sun 10/08/2008
4:30 PM, Writer’s Retreat
ANNA MYCEK-WODECKI:
MINUTKA'S WORD WORKSHOP
Sun 17/08/2008
1:00 PM, RBS Workshop Tent
WOJCIECH TOCHMAN
Sun 24/08/2008
4:30 PM, Writers’ Retreat
PAULUS HOCHGATTERER & MAREK KRAJEWSKI
Sun 10/08/2008
4:30 PM, Writer’s Retreat
£6.00/£4.00
Stream: Writers of the World
Dark, seductive and gripping - introducing two European masters of the psychological thriller. Acclaimed Polish award-winner Marek Krajewski's Death in Breslau conjures a city in the grip of the Gestapo. Paulus Hochgatterer, an Austrian child psychiatrist, utilises his professional knowledge in The Sweetness of Life, the tale of a traumatised child in an Alpine village.
Marek Krajewski: a lecturer in Classical Studies in the University of Wroclaw. His Eberhard Mock quartet of novels enjoyed massive success in Germany and Poland and is now being translated into the major European languages, including English. He made his debut in 1999 with a novel entitled Death in Breslau, the almost classic roman noir, followed by the next four stories of one detective Eberhardt Mock.
Death in Breslau (transl. by Danusia Stok): Eberhardt Mock conducts an enquiry into a grisly murder in pre-war Wrocław — then the German city of Breslau. Breslau in 1934 combines the worlds of the Nazi regime, a still multiethnic society and a secret Satanist sect. As he strolls about the city, as if in passing Krajewski takes note of the bizarre nature of things, and of signs that presage a catastrophe. He gives these observations a gloomy tinge and steeps them in ambiguity. Eberhardt Mock is ideally suited to this model of a mysterious, murky setting for crime. He himself is Breslau, with the lights and shades of the city reflected in his unstable personality.
ANNA MYCEK-WODECKI: MINUTKA'S WORD WORKSHOP
Sun 17/08/2008 1:00 PM
1:00 PM, RBS Workshop Tent
£3.50
Age 10+
Stream: Events for children
Minutka is a very special dog who loves her family, likes to play outside and can speak both Polish and English! Author Anna Mycek-Wodecki leads a hands-on, accessible workshop of language and play with her loveable bilingual creation.
Anna Mycek-Wodecki: attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland, and graduated with dual masters degrees in graphic arts and fine art. She owns a graphic design studio and shares her time between Chicago and Warsaw, Poland.
Minutka: The Bilingual Dog: With beautifully expressive, witty illustrations and an appealing contemporary design, this book shows kids how much fun it is to be bilingual by introducing them to a teeny-tiny dog who is fluent in English and Polish - and even dreams in both languages. Anyone who has ever known and loved a pet will instantly recognize Minutka's favorite activities: she shakes paw, snatches socks, runs in circles, and has fun around the house and garden with her family and friends. Readers don't need to know Polish (or even be children) to be entranced by this lovable dog.
WOJCIECH TOCHMAN
Sun 24/08/2008
4:30 PM, Writers’ Retreat
£6.00/£4.00
Stream: War and Terror
Over 100,000 people died during the Bosnian wars, but it was years before bodies were identified and mourning could begin. In a harrowing portrait of a desperate country, outstanding Polish writer Wojciech Tochman's Like Eating a Stone tells the stories of those still looking for the families they have lost.
Wojciech Tochman: born in 1969 in Krakow, an award-winning reporter and writer. Like Eating a Stone was shortlisted for the Nike Polish Literary Prize and for the Prix Témoin du Monde awarded by Radio France International. www.tochman.eu
Like Eating a Stone (transl. by Antonia Lloyd-Jones): during four years of the war in Bosnia, over 100,000 people lost their lives. But it was months, even years, before the mass graves started to yield up their dead and the process of identification, burial and mourning could begin. For many, the waiting, the searching and the grieving continue to this day. Here we travel through the ravaged post-war landscape in the company of a few of those who survived, as they visit the scene of their loss. These encounters are snapshots and memorials, capturing a jagged moment in a community’s history as it is still flinching from its raw and recent past, not quite yet able to believe in the possibility of a peaceful future.
