Registration REQUIRED by 4pm on February 26, 2025 in order to attend this event.
Please join the East Central European Center and the Harriman Institute for a reading and conversation with award-winning Polish poet Krzysztof Siwczyk, and translator Piotr Fiorczyk, occasioned by the publication of Siwczyk’s debut in English, “A Calligraphy of Days: Selected Poems,” which gathers sixty-four poems spanning his career. Moderated by Christopher Caes.
The sixty-four poems in “A Calligraphy of Days” reflect Krzysztof Siwczyk’s wide-ranging and variegated style. Born in 1977, Siwczyk has lived most of his life in the Silesian city of Gliwice. In 1995, he became a wunderkind of the Polish poetry scene with his debut volume Wild Kids, an edgy and unsentimental narrative of youthful tribulations and urban malaise during Poland’s transition from communism to capitalism. Siwczyk’s poems careen down the page at great speed, relying on clever turns of phrase or an idea that illuminates a larger meaning. As in calligraphy, a meandering subterranean process connects meaning and memory, thought and verse. Teased to the surface, words and images emerge in rapid, terse, and precise bursts. Throughout his career, Siwczyk has never ceased to challenge our sense of who we are—changing course multiple times in the process. Following several volumes full of expansive lines, his most recent works offer spare meditations on illness and grief. Clipped and understated, these post-Holocaust poems address our inability to speak of death and tragedy.
Krzysztof Siwczyk is an award-winning poet, critic, and essayist from Poland. He has published over fourteen volumes of poetry, and his work has been translated into numerous languages, including Italian, French, and German. He lives in Gliwice, Poland, and works at the Rafał Wojaczek Institute in Mikołów.
Piotr Florczyk is an award-winning poet, critic, and translator of Polish poetry. His new book, “Dialogue and Influence: Essays on Polish and American Poets,” will be published this spring. He teaches Global Literary Studies at the University of Washington, and lives with his family in Los Angeles.
