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Polish Poet Ryszard Krynicki at PEN World Voices Festival
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Ryszard Krynicki is one of Poland’s most important living poets. For decades he has fought for freedom of speech and expression, battling against censorship in the days before democracy returned to Poland.
Previously little-known in the English-speaking world, two major collections of his poetry have just been released. Our Life Grows, first published in 1978, was so politically incendiary to the Communist regime that Krynicki was banned from even being mentioned in print. This new translation by Alissa Valles, published by New York Review Books, returns these powerful poems to their original, uncensored forms.
Magnetic Point: Selected Poems offers a comprehensive selection of poems from Krynicki’s entire career. Clare Cavanagh’s skillful and sensitive translations show Krynicki’s development, as poet and critic Stanislaw Baranczak put it, “from excess to ascesis.”
Krynicki will be featured at this year’s PEN World Voices Festival, New York’s premier international literary event.
On April 17 at Poets House, he will be joined by his translators and award-winning American poet Ed Hirsch for an event focused on his life and work. Address: 10 River Terrace, New York, NY 10282.
On April 19 at Dixon Place Theater, he will be joined by authors from Ukraine, Kenya, Italy, South Korea, Iran, and Egypt to discuss when writing and politics clash, and the role authors play in countries circumstances of political oppression. Address: 161A Chrystie St, New York, NY 10002.
