POETS OF TODAY – VOICES OF TOMORROW: POETS

“Poets of Today – Voices of Tomorrow” is a European cooperation project co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme and implemented by partner organisations from Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, Serbia and Finland.

Its aim is to bring poetry and contemporary poets closer to young people, teachers and local communities through the development of new performative poetic forms. An artistic team has been set up in each partner country, which is responsible for developing the methodology and creating an artistic poetic and educational programme. The Polish artistic team of the project consists of Małgorzata Lebda (poet), Weronika Murek (writer, playwright), Rafał Siderski (visual artist, photographer) and Wenancjusz Ochmann (musician, vocal coach).

More about the Polish artistic team.

The invitation to participate in the project was also accepted by renowned Polish poets and poets: Maciej Bobula, Joanna Bociąg, Magdalena Kicińska, Barbara Klicka, Jakub Kornhauser, Bartek Majzel, Patrycja Sikora, Bianka Rolando, Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkało and Urszula Zajaczkowska, who are working together with teachers from 11 Silesian schools to raise the importance of reading poetry at school.

Jakub Kornhauser – born in 1984. poet, essayist, translator, editor, literary scholar. Co-founder and employee of the Avant-Garde Research Center at the Faculty of Polish Studies of the Jagiellonian University, assistant professor at the Faculty of Philology of the Jagiellonian University. He has published a number of books of poetry. Author and editor of more than a dozen scientific monographs, as well as books of essays. Editor of many anthologies and studies. He has translated into Polish books by Dumitru Crudu, Gherasim Luka, Henri Michaux, Gellu Naum, Miroljub Todorovic, and most recently Claudiu Komartin’s Cobalt. Deputy editor-in-chief of the scholarly journal Romanica Cracoviensia, editor-in-chief of four publishing series (avant-garde/revisions – UJ Publishing House; Romania Today – Universitas; wunderkamera – Mikolov Institute; Latest Roman Literatures – scriptum). Winner of the Wislawa Szymborska Award (2016) for Drożdżownia [The yeast factory], Significance Award (2021) for Premie górskie najwyższej kategorii [Mountain Premières of the highest category], nominated for many other awards (Gdynia Literary Award and Wislawa Szymborska Award – twice, European Poet of Freedom, Orpheus Award).

Barbara Klicka – poet, novelist, curator of literary and cultural events. She made her debut as a poet in 2000, in 2012 she published a book [same same] (Mikolov Institute) nominated for the Wroclaw Silesius Poetry Prize. In 2015, the book [Nice] (WBPiCAK) was published, for which she received the Silesius and the Gdynia Literary Award. In 2017 she wrote the stage poem Elementarz, which was staged at the National Theater in Warsaw, directed by Piotr Cieplak. In 2020, she published the novel Zdrój [Sanitorium](WAB Publishing House), which was nominated for the Gdynia Literary Award and the Conrad Prize and translated into six languages. In 2021, she published the poetry book [allel ] (jot Publishing House). She is a regular columnist for Dialogue. She has curated and/or co-curated many artistic and literary ventures, including the New Secret Detective project, the Podlasie SlowFest festival (2017-19), and the European Poet of Freedom Festival (from 2019). She has also worked as an editor for the quarterly magazine on Jewish literature and art Tsvishn. For many years she co-created the largest Polish online library WolneLektury.pl. Since 2022 she has been a member of the chapter of the Gdynia Literary Award.

Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkało – born in 1979. poet, author of novels, plays and children’s books. Author of an anthology of short stories, as well as curator of the International Storytelling Festival. Nominated for the Gdynia Literary Award for Spamy miłosne [Love Spam], winner of the PS IBBY award for Lato Adeli [Adela’s Summer] (Book of the Year 2019). Nominated for the Hestia Literary Journey Award for her novel Po śladach [Following the Tracks]. Editor of Czech Neighbors, translated by Zofia Bałdyga. Translator of Ukrainian poet Hanna Osadko (published by Borderland). Editor and co-founder of the social-poetry magazine Zak. Her plays have been staged at the Polish Theater, the Szaniawski Drama Theater, the Capitol Musical Theater, the Grotowski Theater (as part of MFO), among others. Dzień dobry wszyscy umrzemy [Good Morning We’re All Gonna Die] has been adapted from the Teatroteka series. Doctoral student at IBL PAN. Member of the research team of the Women’s Archive of the IBL PAN. For the past three years she has been leading interdisciplinary humanities seminars in Wroclaw. Academically, she deals with camp in new Polish poetry.

Bartłomiej Majzel born in 1974. poet, radio journalist, traveler, literary reviewer, music critic and long-time organizer of art events. For over 20 years an employee of the Ars Cameralis Cultural Institution in Katowice, where he co-created one of the first interdisciplinary festivals in Poland, the Ars Cameralis Festival, being responsible for literary and musical events. Among other things, he co-created the legendary poetry event which has been held for 25 years in Katowice under the name Poetic Confluence Na Dziko. In 2020, he created the international interdisciplinary festival series Space of the Word in Zagłębie Mediateka in Sosnowiec. He has published 5 volumes of poetry. Among other awards, he received the Four Literary Columns Award and was nominated for the Passports of Polityka. He has published in many Polish and foreign magazines and anthologies. His poems have been translated into English, Welsh, Swedish, Italian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, among others. He has represented Poland at many international literary festivals in Slovenia, Luxembourg, Wales, England and Ukraine, among others. He is a co-founder of the NaDziko Poetry Troupe. For 16 years he hosted the author’s music program Karawana on Radio eM. He has collaborated with Program 2 of Polish Radio.

Patrycja Sikora – poet, writer. Born in Wieruszow in 1989. For her debut volume Instrukcja dla ludzi nie stąd [Instructions for People Not From Here] (WBPiCAK 2020) she was nominated for the 2020 Polityka Passports. Multiple winner of poetry slams. Published and translated into languages. Editor of the literary quarterly Strona czynna  [Page Active], the anthology of poems Jak długo będziemy musieli i Biji Rojava!. [How Long Will We Have to and Biji Rojava!]

Urszula Zajączkowska – poet, writer, Prof. SGGW, works at the Independent Department of Forest Botany. She studies the growth, anatomy, aerodynamics and biomechanics of plants. She is also a video artist, and the  author of three books of poetry (‘Atoms’, ‘Minimum’, ‘Sand’) and one book of essays ‘Sticks, sticks’. She is a columnist for ‘Dwutygodnik’ and lives in Wołomin.

Maciej Bobula Resident with one foot in Poland, the other in Denmark, a peasant-novelist, author of books in verse and prose.

Joanna Bociąg – born in 1989, graduate of Polish philology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (UAM), artist, cultural animator, editor, winner of the XXV J. Bierezin Competition, author of the book Boję się o ostatnią kobietę [I’m afraid of the last woman] (2020). For several years associated with WBPiCAK Publishing House in Poznań, currently Secretary of the Board of the Wisława Szymborska Foundation and the Wisława Szymborska Award.

Magdalena Kicińska – editor-in-chief of ‘Pismo. Magazine of Opinions’ and vice-president of the Pismo Foundation. She is a reporter and the winner of the Grand Press 2017 in the “interview” category. She is the author of the books: “Pani Stefa” (Czarne, 2015), “Means of Transport” (Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2019) co-author (with Marcin Dziedzic) of the book “Now ’43. Fates” (Wielka Litera, 2018). In September 2021, with Agnieszka Jucewicz, she published the book ‘House in a Bottle. Conversations with Adult Children of Alcoholics’.

Bianka Rolando – born in 1979 to a Polish-Italian family. Visual artist and poet and writer. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan. In 2017, she received a doctoral degree in visual arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz. Her collection of short stories Rozmówki włoskie, [Italian Phrasebook](2007) was awarded the Young Art Medal in the field of literature (2009), for her poem Biała książka [White Book], (2009) she received the Kazimiera Iłłłakowiczówna Award for the best poetic debut of the year and an honorable mention in the All-Polish Literary Contest “Golden Mean of Poetry” 2010. Scholarship holder of Dachstein:Cult.

* Photographs taken for the Poets of Today Voices of Tomorrow project and intended to be used only for the promotion of this project. Please contact the author (tel. 507761174 email: rafalsiderski@gmail.com) in order to establish the possibility of using the photographs in any other capacity. Photo by Rafal Siderski / ARTeria Foundation / POT-VOT