Wioletta Grzegorzewska
Wioletta Grzegorzewska, or Wioletta Greg (9 February 1974) is a Polish poet and writer, born in a small village Rzeniszów in Jurassic Highland in Poland. In 2006, she left her country and moved to the Isle of Wight. She lives in Essex.
Wioletta Grzegorzewska, Wioletta Greg | |
---|---|
Born | Koziegłowy, Poland | 9 February 1974
Nationality | Polish |
Occupation | Poet, writer |
Life
Wioletta spent ten years in Czestochowa where she organised cultural events, edited student journals, wrote articles about local literary developments. Between 1998 – 2012 she published six poetry volumes, as well as a novella Guguły, in which she's covering her childhood and the experience of growing up in Communist Poland. Senior editor Max Porter from Portobello Books said:
Guguły[1] is an enchanting and intriguing book. Wioletta Greg is a poet and every line of this haunting autobiographical novella has its own weird, beautiful atmosphere. It reminded me of Evie Wyld, Ludmila Petrushevskaya and Herta Muller."[2]
Greg's short stories and poems[3] have been published in: Asymptote,[4] The Guardian,[5] Litro Magazine, Poetry Wales, Wasafiri, The White Review.[6]
Her poetry book Finite Formulae & Theories of Chance has been shortlisted for the 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize.[7][8] The judges said:
"These poems, as translated from Polish into English by Marek Kazmierski, retain the force of first experience and, equally, a collection of history’s remains. Greg’s thoughts include the catastrophe of the 20th century whose marks still wobble before her eyes, and the experience of living in post-Communist Poland. This stunning collection shows us (mostly through the eyes and memories of childhood) a world of objects transported across years. ‘Tossing satin bulbs into wicker baskets,’ the child poet is at ease with the earth and the hardy objects made from it. Greg grants us the privilege of seeing what she saw before she saw more."[9]
Wioletta has won The Goldene Eule 2015 in Vienna. In 2012 an Arts Council-funded audio recording project of the British Library, Between Two Worlds: Poetry and Translation, recorded her poetry.[10] Her poems have been translated into English[11] by Marek Kazmierski, Anna Hyde, Catalan [12] by Xavier Farre and Welsh.
Works
Poetry
- Wyobraznia kontrolowana, Czestochowa, 1998
- Parantele, Czestochowa, 2003
- Orinoko, Tychy, 2008. ISBN 83-88415-77-8
- Inne obroty, Polish-Canadian Publishing Fund and Fraza, Toronto and Rzeszów, 2010, ISBN 978-0-921724-59-9
- Ruchy Browna, Czestochowa, 2011
- Smena's Memory. Collected Poems, trans. by Marek Kazmierski, London: Off_Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-9563946-8-2
- Finite Formulae and Theories of Chance, trans. by Marek Kazmierski, Arc Publications 2014, ISBN 978-1908376-91-6 (shortlisted for the 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize
- Czasy zespolone, Wydawnictwo Eperons-Ostrogi, Krakow 2017, ISBN 9788394647148
Prose
- Notatnik z wyspy, Czestochowa, 2012. ISBN 978-83-89401-40-3
- Guguly, Wydawnictwo Czarne, 2014. ISBN 978-83-7536-696-9 (shortlisted for Nike Award in Poland)
- Swallowing Mercury, Portobello Books 2017 ISBN 9781846276071[13] (shortlisted for Man Booker International Prize, Jan Michalski Prize for Literature, The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
- Stancje, Wydawnictwo W.A.B, ISBN 978-83-280-4596-5
Anthologies[14]
- Scattering the Dark: An Anthology of Polish Women Poets, ed. Karen Kovacik, Buffalo, New York: White Pine Press, 2015. ISBN 978-1935210825
References
- "Wo Borkenkäfer Völkerball spielen: Wioletta Grzegorzewskas Guguły", Novinki.
- Joshua Farrington, "Greg novella to Portobello", The Bookseller, 11 March 2015.
- Brittany Krier, "A review of Wioletta Greg’s Finite Formulae and Theories of Chance (Arc Publications, 2014)", 3 February 2015.
- "Translation Tuesday: On the River Boży Stok by Wioletta Greg", Asymptote, 8 December 2015.
- "Translation Tuesday: On the River Boży Stok by Wioletta Greg", The Guardian, 8 December 2015.
- Wioletta Greg, "The Bees", The White Review, January 2016..
- "Finite Formulae & Theories of Chance shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize!", Polish Cultural institute.
- "Marek Kazmierski, poet Wioletta Greg read from Finite Formulae & Theories of Chance", Griffin Poetry Prize. YouTube.
- Marek Kazmierski — Griffin Poetry Prize 2015, International Shortlist.
- "Wioletta Grzegorzewska reading - Between Two Worlds: Poetry and Translation - Arts, literature and performance". British Library - Sounds.
- "A Wedding Party" by Marek Kazmierski translating from Polish by Wioletta Greg.
- "Lliçons de natació".
- http://portobellobooks.com/swallowing-mercury
- https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/06/swallowing-mercury-by-wioletta-greg-review