Wislawa Szymborska
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Wisława Szymborska (born July 2, 1923) is a Polish poet, essayist and translator of French literature, laureate of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996.
She was born in Bnin (now a part of Kórnik) near Poznań in Poland. In 1931 her family moved to Kraków. Since then, Szymborska has been linked with the city of Kraków where she studied, worked, and still resides.
In March 1945, Szymborska published her first poem "Szukam słowa" ("I seek the word") in the daily paper "Dziennik Polski."
From 1945 to 1948 she studied Polish language and sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
Her poems were published in a variety of newspapers and periodicals for a number of years immediately after World War II.
In 1953, she joined the staff of the literature review magazine called "Życie Literackie" (Literary Life) where she continued to work until 1981. Szymborska wrote a book review column entitled "Lektury Nadobowiązkowe" (Non-required Reading). Many of the articles were later published in book form.
Szymborska has also translated French lyric poetry, especially Baroque poetry and Agrippa d'Aubigné.
During the 1980s, she was participated in the Polish "samizdat" movement and wrote under the pseudonym Stanczykówna for "Arka" and in the exile magazine "Kultura", which was published in Paris, France.
Her poetry has been translated to many European languages, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese and Chinese.
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Prizes and Awards
- The City of Cracow Prize for Literature, 1954
- The Polish Ministry of Culture Prize, 1963
- The Goethe Prize, 1991
- The Herder Prize, 1995
- Honorary Doctor of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 1995
- The Polish PEN Club prize, 1996
- Nobel Prize for Literature, 1996
Major Works
- Dlatego żyjemy (That's Why We Are Alive) (1952)
- Pytania zadawane sobie (Questioning Yourself) (1954)
- Wołanie do Yeti (Calling Out to Yeti) (1957)
- Sól (Salt) (1962)
- 101 wierszy (101 Poems) (1966)
- Sto pociech (No End of Fun) (1967)
- Poezje wybrane (Selected Poetry) (1967)
- Wszelki wypadek (Could Have) (1972)
- Wielka liczba (A Large Number) (1976)
- Ludzie na moście (People on the Bridge) (1986)
- Poezje: Poems (bilingual Polish-English edition) (1989)
- Lektury nadobowiązkowe (Non-required Reading) (1992)
- Koniec i początek (The End and the Beginning) (1993)
- Widok z ziarnkiem piasku (View with a Grain of Sand) (1996)
- Sto wierszy - sto pociech (100 Poems - 100 Happinesses) (1997)
- Chwila (Moment) (2002)
- Rymowanki dla dużych dzieci (Rhymes for Big Kids) (2003)
Her poetic style is based on a tradition of 20th century poetry and humanistic mainstream. However, she detaches herself from current philosophical, artistic and cultural trends. Her poems include irony, paradoxes and jokes. She has also written limericks.
She has a wide group of devoted readers and her collections of poems regularly reach the circulation of some popular novels.
External Links
- Wislawa Szymborska (http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1996/): Including biography and Nobel speech - NobelPrize.org
- Poems of Wislawa Szymborska (http://www.poetseers.org/nobel_prize_for_literature/wislawa_szymborska/library/)
- Wislawa Szymborska in translation (http://www.arlindo-correia.com/100901.html)
See also
da:Wislawa Szymborska de:Wisława Szymborska es:Wisława Szymborska eo:Wisława SZYMBORSKA fr:Wisława Szymborska gd:Wislawa Szymborska is:Wislawa Szymborska it:Wislawa Szymborska nl:Wislawa Szymborska pl:Wisława Szymborska fi:Wislawa Szymborska sv:Wislawa Szymborska he:ויסלבה שימבורסקה