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(b. 1926) – prose writer, essayist and columnist, translator of German and Latin literature. Born in Lviv, but spent his childhood in Kraków and…
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Poetry
Krzysztof Lisowski
(b. 1954) – a poet, editor, literary critic, translator and author of children’s poems.
Krzysztof Lisowski made his debut in 1972 with the poem ‘Bajka’ (‘Fairy Tale’) published in Życie Literackie; he also published reviews and poems in Literatura, Magazyn Kulturalny and Student. He has been tied to Wydawnictwo Literackie Publishers since 1977 – first as an editor of Polish contemporary poetry and children’s literature, since 1995 as a vice-director of programming. He is also a literary critic, writing for Nowe Książki, Kwartalnik Artystyczny and Kresy. He has been editing secretary of the Dekada Literacka biweekly.
Lisowski was from the generation of poets who debuted less than a decade after the New Wave. The first stage of his work was his ‘civic’ works, containing elements of discussion with the older generation over the state and perception of the world (from ‘Próba obywatelstwa’ [An Attempt at Citizenship] to ‘Pewne kręgi mistyków’ [Certain Spheres of Mystics]). Later, different elements of his poetics came to the forefront – an attentiveness and sensuality taken from Miłosz and the Catastrophists, in praise of the world and family bonds. In this period, Julian Kornhauser wrote of Lisowski: ‘His poetry has always stood out for its sensual descriptions and unconditional acceptance of life. […] Lisowski knows how to see his own happiness in every manifestation of life. He is a consistent and steady traveller on the planet of “everyday work”. Here he seeks the unbearable lightness of being’.
Over time, the poet began experimenting with various forms – haiku, poetic epistle, prose poetry, the epic. He also tried his mettle in the travel essay (descriptions of his numerous travels to Greece, the Balkans, to the Czech Republic) and in prose (the outline of a novel, stories long and short). Tomasz Fiałkowski wrote of his ‘Greckie lustro’ (Greek Mirror): ‘I was relieved to find a book where Greece is what it should be: a country that really exists and is also a spiritual reality, a place where we try to touch our remote past, the material trace of the ideas that created us’.
The links and fascinations for Mediterranean culture mean that Lisowski is perceived as a classical poet. ‘Wieści dobre i złe’ (Good and Bad News) records dreams and travels in a spare, lucid fashion, finding the poet drawing close to the old sources, recording echoes of ancient prophecies. We find a discreet anxiety and trembling at the fate of our civilisation, a soft presentiment of a catastrophe.
Lisowski has won many literary awards, including the Andrzej Bursa Award (1976) and the Stanisław Piętak Award (1981). In 2014, he took the Krystyna and Czesław Bednarczyk Literary Award and was nominated for the K. I. Gałczyński Orfeusz Literary Award for ‘Poematy i wiersze do czytania na głos’ (Epics and Poems for Reading Out Loud). He was also nominated for the Orfeusz for ‘Zamróz’ (Frost Weathering). He received the Bronze Gloria Artis Medal for Service to Culture in 2015.
Bibliography
poetry:
- Próba obywatelstwa, Cracow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1975.
- Wiersze, Cracow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1977.
- Wypożyczalnia i inne wiersze, Cracow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1979.
- Drzewko szczęścia, Cracow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1980.
- Pewne kręgi mistyków, Cracow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1982.
- Wiersze i epitafia, Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1984.
- Ciemna dolina, Katowice: Wydawnictwo Śląsk, 1986.
- Wspomnienia o nad, Cracow: Oficyna Konfraterni Poetów, 1990.
- Wieczorny spacer i inne wiersze, Cracow: Znak, 1992.
- 99 haiku. Inne wiersze, Cracow: Oficyna Literacka, Śródmiejski Ośrodek Kultury w Krakowie, 1993.
- Piętnaście tysięcy dni. Wiersze z lat 1975–1995, Cracow: Oficyna Cracovia, Śródmiejski Ośrodek Kultury w Krakowie, 1995.
- Światło lasów, Cracow: Oficyna Konfraterni Poetów, 1996.
- Przechodzenie przez rzekę, Warsaw: W.A.B., 1997.
- 33 zapewnienia o miłości do świata, Cracow: Baran i Suszczyński, 1999.
- Rzeczy widzialne i niewidzialne, Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Nowy Świat, 2001.
- Stróża. Wiersze ze światła, Cracow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2002.
- Feng shui dla bezdomnych, Cracow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2003.
- Poszukiwacze światła. Seekers of Light, Katowice: Gnome – Toronto: Polski Fundusz Wydawniczy w Kanadzie, 2004.
- Niewiedza, Cracow: Tlön & Uqbar, 2007.
- Niewiedza, Cracow: Tlön Uqbar, 2007.
- Wiersze i między wierszami, Sopot: Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Sopotu, 2009.
- Nicości, znikaj, Mikołów: Instytut Mikołowski, 2011.
- Poematy i wiersze do czytania na głos, Poznań: WBPiCAK, 2013.
- Zamróz, Poznań: WBPiCAK, 2016.
- Zaginiona we śnie, Cracow: Biblioteka Kraków, 2019.
- Domy dni. Antologia osobista, Cracow: Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich, Instytut Literatury, 2020.
- Wieści dobre i złe, Mississauga: Polski Fundusz Wydawniczy w Kanadzie – Cracow: TAiWPN Universitas, 2021.
- Okręt Odysa. Wiersze greckie [2nd author: Zbigniew Bielawka], Kraków: Towarzystwo Słowaków w Polsce, 2022.
- Trzeba czasu, Mississauga: Polski Fundusz Wydawniczy w Kanadzie – Cracow: Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich Oddział Kraków, 2021.
prose:
- Budzik Platona, Toronto: Polski Fundusz Wydawniczy w Kanadzie – Cracow: Śródmiejski Ośrodek Kultury w Krakowie, 2007.
- Greckie lustro [short stories], Sejny: Wydawnictwo Pogranicze, 2011.
- Czarne notesy. O niekonieczności [drafts], Szczecin: Wydawnictwo FORMA, 2012.
- Motyl Wisławy. I inne podróże [prose, essays, interviews], Szczecin: Wydawnictwo „Forma”, Fundacja Literatury im. Henryka Berezy, 2014.
- Niektóre miejsca na ziemi. Przewodnik wojażera [prose, drafts], Cracow: Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich Oddział Kraków, 2017.
- Jakiś Odys i inne pisaniny [essays], Cracow: Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich Oddział Kraków, 2022.
children’s literature:
- Wiersze dla Uli, Cracow–Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1986.
- Ktosie i cosie. Wiersze dla dzieci młodszych, starszych i zaawansowanych, Łódź: Wydawnictwo Łódzkie, 1988.
- Ula w wierszach schowana, Cracow: Wydawnictwo WAM, 2004.
translation works:
from Czech:
- Miroslav Sehnal, Břetislav Uhlář, Godzina próby. Opowieści o genach i hormonach w sześciu odsłonach [Hodinu pod drnem], prose trans. Jan Stachowski; poetry trans. Krzysztof Lisowski, Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Good Books, 2010.
- Miroslav Sehnal, Břetislav Uhlář, Godzina w niebie. (Nie)zwykłe, niemal sielskie hece anielskie [Hodinu w nebi], prose Jan Stachowski; poetry trans. Krzysztof Lisowski, Wrocław: Afera, 2015.
Translations
Czech:
- Nicoto, zmiz [Nicości, znikaj], trans. Václav Burian, Olomouc: Burian a Tichák, 2014.
Russian:
- in anthology: Сделано в Польше, век – XX: антология / Wykonano w Polsce, wiek – XX. Antologia, trans. Andrej Bazylewski, Moskwa: Vahazar, 2009.
Serbian:
- in anthology: 100 савремених пољских песника: антологија. Књ. 2, trans. Grzegorz Łatuszyński, Pančevo: Mali Nemo, 2022.
Slovenian:
- in anthology: Prošnja za srečne otoke. Antologija poljske ljubezenske lirike, trans. Rozka Štefanova, Radovljica: Didakta, 1999.
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