Poet, novelist and essayist
Adam Zagajewski, a poet, novelist and essayist who studied Psychology and Philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, is an outstanding voice in contemporary literature. He was a member of the Poland’s democratic opposition to the communist regime and his works were banned in the 1970s. In 1982 he went into exile in Paris, after which he went to live in the United States. He then returned to Kraków, where he has been living since 2002.
Notable among his published poetry are the volumes Deseo (1997 – published in Spanish by Editorial Acantilado, 2005), Regreso (2003), Antenas (2005)—the latter two books being published in 2007 as one volume by Editorial Acantilado with the title Antenas (2007)—Mano invisible (2009 – Editorial Acantilado 2012; published in English as Unseen Hand in 2011) and, published in Catalan, Terra del foc (1994 – Quaderns Crema, 2004). Among his essays in Spanish (published by Editorial Acantilado in 2006, 2005, 2010 and 2017, respectively) are Dos ciudades (1995; in English, Two Cities: On Exile, History and the Imagination, 1995), En defensa del fervor (2002; in English A Defense of Ardor: Essays, 2014), Solidaridad y soledad (1982; in English, Solidarity, Solitude, 1990), Releer a Rilke (2009) and, published by Pretextos, La belleza ajena (2011; in English, Another Beauty, 2002).
His work has been translated into several languages and among the awards it has received are the Europa Award for Poetry in 2010 and the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature in 2017.
