NEWS

THE 2ND ZYGMUNT HAUPT FESTIVAL – PROGRAM

For the second time we wish to invite you to Gorlice for the Zygmunt Haupt Festival. The program includes topical meetings, meetings with authors, concerts, and a presentation of photographs from the author’s family archive.

Zygmunt Haupt is the greatest of the inequitably forgotten Polish writers of the 20th century. During the Festival we endeavour to exhibit the legitimacy of this statement, and to bring back the memory of his works and biography. The entire event is guided by the words of Andrzej Stasiuk, the Artistic Director, whose invitation to the first edition of this Gorlice event postulated: “It is time fot Haupt to come back.”

Following the idea quoted above, each day the festival will hold topical meetings with researchers and invited guests. Gorlice will once again host prof. Aleksander Madyda, Andrzej Niewiadomski, PhD, and Paweł Panas, PhD, who will talk about Zygmut Haupt’s place in 20th century Polish literature and about the unique literary language of this author. These meetings will, at the same time, constitute a great opportunity to present a new edition of “Basque devil,” which was published this year by the Czarne Publishing House, edited by prof. Aleksander Madyda.

The “Writer’s Archive” and “Reception” meetings look equally promising. The guest of the former will be Barbara Krupa — Curator for Slavic and East European Collections at Stanford University — who has custody over the entire American archive of Zygmunt Haupt’s works. The topic of the latter meeting will be the reception of the writer’s works in Germany and the issues connected with translating his works into German. The guests of the meeting will be: Esther Kinsky (writer, poet, translator) and Katharina Raabe (publisher and editor).

The second goal of the festival is participating in the development of the Polish literary scene, promoting reading as well as valuable phenomena of contemporary literature. Therefore, during the four days of the festival there will be a number of meetings with authors whose works can be inscribed into the horizon established by Zygmunt Haupt; on the basis of the chosen topic, or the proposed literary language – we invite authors whose literary output is not only telling stories, but also, or maybe most importantly, creating a language. Moreover, since Haupt’s work combines the sensitivity of poetry, the imagination of prose, and the attentiveness of reportage, each of these genres will mark its presence in the program of the Festival.

Gorlice will hold meetings with the following authors: Michał Cichy, Urszula Honek, Magdalena Kicińska, Esther Kinsky, Maroš Krajňak, Andrzej Muszyński, Piotr Nesterowicz, Klara Nowakowska, Andrzej Stasiuk, Krzysztof Środa, Adam Wiedemann, Zofia Zaleska. The moderators of the auteur meetings and topical meetings will be: Darek Foks, Bartłomiej Kiełtyka, Kamila Margielska, Andrzej Niewiadomski, PhD, Michał Olszewski, Paweł Panas, PhD, Monika Rogowska-Stangret, PhD, Monika Stopczyk.

We also have good news for all book addicts. During the festival, Gorlice’s book-store Księgarnia Mieszko will have a dedicated bookstall with our guests’ books.

The Festival in Gorlice also includes other art forms. We will open with Kuba Jaworski’s concert, namely Gypsy and the Acid Queen. In his creative work vast space meets detail, and one sound can change the impression the music makes on the audience. It seems that the artist’s imagination wanders the same areas as Haupt’s imagination. We will finish with an exceptional film-literary-musical project “Tutaj” (“Here”). The screening of the film by Kamil Gubała will be accompanied by: Andrzej Stasiuk (reading Zygmunt Haupt’s prose) and Piotr Bukowski (improvising on guitar).

The Festival is organised by the Academic Office of Culture and Art Alma Art, the Stanisław Gabryel Municipal Public Library in Gorlice, and the Czarne Publishing House. The event would not have been possible without the help from this year’s partners: the Goethe Institute in Cracow, the Slovak Institute in Warsaw, the Książkowe Klimaty Publishing House, the Gorlice Culture Centre, the Lemko Union, and Dark Pub in Gorlice.

The Festival program is available for download HERE. The Festival will take place on September 23th–26th 2016. Admission to all events is free.