Tadeusz Dąbrowski

(b. 1979) – poet, reviewer, editor.

Tadeusz Dąbrowski debuted as a poet even before he started a course in Polish studies at the University of Gdańsk. In 1997 the literary bimonthly “Topos” published his poem “macierzyństwo” (motherhood). Soon after, in 2000, he started working with “Topos”, and in 2002 – joined its editorial team. In 2025 he took the post of its editor-in-chief, taking over from the magazine’s founder, Krzysztof Kuczkowski.

Over the years, Dąbrowski published poems, sketches and literary reviews in periodicals including “Pogranicza”, “Kresy”, “Lampa i Iskra Boża”, “Odra”, “Twórczość”, “Tygodnik Powszechny”, “Zeszyty Literackie”. He was also a presenter in the TV news programme “Panorama” on Channel 3 of Telewizja Polska, and collaborated with that station’s culture desk. He took part in many Polskie Radio broadcasts; for many years he co-hosted (together with Krzysztof Kuczkowski) the original poetry programme “Po pierwsze wiersze” in Radio Gdańsk.

In the years 2012-19 Dąbrowski was the artistic director of the European Poet of Freedom Festival in Gdańsk. In 2021 he joined the board of the Gdańsk branch of the Polish Writers’ Association. In 2024 he became a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (German Academy for Language and Literature).

Tadeusz Dąbrowski’s poetry focuses on traditional metaphysical and religious issues. His poems most often feature reflections on the existence of God, his presence and absence in the human world, dying, immortality and problems with earthly life. The subject of these poems sees this earthly life as a paradoxical combination of consumerism and sacredness; the death of poetry and the inability to stop writing; the loss of real values and the need for salvation. Most of the poems – based on a specific existential experience – are a departure point for symbolic images; Dąbrowski often writes something of a parable, sending his questions directly to God. The poems’ subject feels a “metaphysical fear” stemming from the conviction that, in general terms, people’s drives lead them into the wilderness of sin. It seems, however, that just like the combination of consumption and the sacred (mediocrity, the surface, the appearance and depth of feeling, truth, goodness) is the essence of modern world for Dąbrowski, the subject’s characteristic perspective hinges on excitement about sinning, which – according to him – determines our humanity. Dąbrowski’s poetry volumes also feature love poems and meta-textual ones. This establishes a symbolic triad – writing, love and religion – which, one might guess, makes this poetry so popular.

His poems have been translated into many languages and printed in foreign press, including “The New Yorker”, “Paris Review”, “Boston Review”, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, and in many foreign anthologies, including in Bulgarian, Czech, Russian, Serbian and Spanish.

Dąbrowski has won many awards, including distinctions at the National Poetry Competition for the “Red Rose” Award (2000, 2002) and the City of Gdańsk Award for Young Creators (2002). He was nominated for the TV “Pegaz” Award for the year 2001. Tadeusz Różewicz awarded him the “Small Sceptre” of the Polish Culture Foundation (2006). He is also a laureate of the Splendor Gedanensis City of Gdańsk Award in the Field of Culture (2007) and the Gdańsk Society of Friends of Art Award (2007). In 2008 he received the Hubert Burda Award for poets from Central and Eastern Europe, and in 2009 – the Kościelski Award for the poetry volume “Czarny kwadrat” (published in English as Black Square). Nominated for the Nike Literary Award in 2010, recipient of the bronze Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture (2018).