Mateusz Górniak

(b. 1996) – a writer, dramaturg and critic.

He debuted in 2022 with a short-story collection, Trash Story (he called it an experimental novel), in which, alongside a nostalgic coming-of-age story in a Silesian setting, there were bizarre and absurd images from alternative biographies of pop figures, such as Walduś from the Świat według Kiepskich series or Kenny from South Park. In 2023, he released another book, ‘Dwie powieści ruchu’ (Two Novels of Movement), drawing from the road novel tradition. The two long stories it contains – ‘Chata, taka z drewna’ (A Hut, Made of Wood) and ‘Nomadka’ (The Nomad) – were based on opposing narrative categories and strategies (the abstract and the linear, fast and slow pace, etc.). In 2025, Górniak published ‘Ćpun i Głupek’ (The Junkie and the Fool), his first book that is unequivocally a novel. It is a father-son dialogue, in which financial and social hardships meet an attempt to create an active subject, unconstrained by natural circumstances. In all his works to date, Górniak exhibits a central problem, depicting protagonists from the margins of society, without being condescending towards them. For this reason, he has polemicised with the creative strategies of Olga Tokarczuk (and her concept of the ‘sensitive narrator’) and Dorota Masłowska (whose humour he has called condescending).

Apart from his prose, Górniak writes dramas; he has worked with directors and stages across Poland. He joined Grzegorz Jaremka, among others, in making the script and the dramaturgy for the play ‘Przemiana’ (Metamorphosis) in Nowy Theatre in Warsaw; he also worked as a dramaturg for Frankenstein at the Współczesny Theatre in Szczecin. His first two books have been adapted for the stage: Trash Story was presented at the Kazimierz Dejmko Nowy Theatre in Łódź (director: Jan Kanty Zienko), and ‘TRZASK PRASK’ (BANG CRASH, a play based on Two Novels of Movement) at Warsaw’s Rozmaitości Theatre (director: Wera Makowska).

Mateusz Górniak also works as a literary and film critic, and has published essays, reviews and commentaries in culture journals such as Dialog, Dwutygodnik, Kino, KONTENT, Mały Format, Nowy Napis and Odra. He edited Stoner Polski for years.

His work has been widely reviewed and praised by literary circles. Górniak’s debut was nominated for a range of prizes, including the Nike Literary Award and the Conrad Award. Both Trash Story and Two Novels of Movement were nominated for the Gdynia Literary Award.

Fragments of Górniak’s work have been translated into Czech.