Radek Rak

(b. 1987) – a writer and veterinary doctor.

His book debut was the novel ‘Kocham cię, Lilith’ (I Love You, Lilith) of 2014. Before that, he had published short stories in Nowa Fantastyka, Lampa, Esensja and Fraza. He also participated in the Polish Legends project carried out by Allegro and Platige Image.

Rak’s work combines magical realism, romance and fantasy in a fascinating way. He creates literary visions with clear ethnic motifs, often inspired by the histories of familiar places where he spent his childhood (Podkarpacie). Folk tales and legends, famous historical and literary figures, fantastical beasts and urban landscapes weave together to make a strange world, constantly oscillating between unreality and the promise of probability. The stories revealed before the reader – most often in a language full of metaphors and symbols – abound in evocative images and plot twists.

Radek Rak has won numerous literary awards. In 2017, he took the Gold Distinction at the Jerzy Żuławski Literary Awards and a nomination for the Janusz A. Zajdl Award for his novel ‘Puste niebo’ (Empty Sky). For his third novel, ‘Baśń o wężowym sercu albo wtóre słowo o Jakóbie Szeli’ (Tale of the Snake’s Heart or Another Word about Jakób Szela), he received the Nike Literary Award (2020), the Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award (2020), the New Fantasy Award in the Polish Book of the Year category (2020), the Janusz A. Zajdl Award (2020) and the European Science Fiction Association’s Achievement Award in the category of Best Written Work of Fiction (2021). He was also nominated for the Gdynia Literary Award in the Prose category (2020). In 2022, he won a Krakow City of Literature UNESCO prize for his novel ‘Agla. Alef’ (Agla: Aleph). For the same book, he received the New Fantasy Award in the Polish Book of the Year category, the Janusz A. Zajdl Award and the Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award. For his novel Agla. Aurora he took the Silver Distinction at the Jerzy Żuławski Awards, and was also nominated for the Janusz A. Zajdl Award and New Fantasy Award in the Polish Book of the Year category. He also has taken home Śląkfy statuettes in the Artist of the Year category on two occasions (2019, 2022).