Joanna Olczak-Ronikier (born 12 November 1934) is a Polish writer and scenarist, co-founder of the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Biography

Joanna Olczak was born on 12 November 1934 in Warsaw to a

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

family, as a daughter of Tadeusz Olczak and Hanna Mortkowicz (1905–1968), famous poet and writer. Her maternal grandmother Janina ''de domo'' Horwitz (1875–1960) also was a writer, while her husband Jakób Mortkowicz (1876–1931) was a book publisher. Joanna Olczak-Ronikier is also related with

Maksymilian Horwitz Maksymilian Horwitz (pseudonym: ''Henryk Walecki''; 6 September 1877 – 20 September 1937) was a leader and theoretician of the Polish socialist and communist movement. Biography Maksymilian Horwitz was born to a Jewish family in Warsaw, the s ...

, a politician, and Kamilla Kancewicz, a doctor. In 1994 she wrote a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

about '' Piwnica pod Baranami'' and four years later a biography of

Piotr Skrzynecki Piotr Cezary Skrzynecki (12 September 1930 in Warsaw – 27 April 1997 in Kraków) was a Polish choreographer, director and cabaret impresario, known for his involvement with the cabaret Piwnica pod Baranami (The Cellar under the Rams), of ...

, founder of this cabaret. Olczak-Ronikier is also an author of many dramas, including ''Ja-Napoleon'' (Teatr Dramatyczny, Warsaw; 1968) and ''Z biegiem lat, z biegiem dni...'' (Teatr Stary, Cracow; 1978). In 2002 her memoir about her family's history ''W ogrodzie pamięci'' won the Nike Award and in 2011 she received the Klio Award for

Janusz Korczak Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). After spending ma ...

biography, ''Korczak. Próba biografii''. She was married twice: with a German journalist Ludwig Zimmerer (1924–1987), they had one daughter, Katarzyna Zimmerer (born in 1961); and with a Polish translator Michał Ronikier (born in 1939).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olczak-Roniker, Joanna Polish women writers 1934 births Living people 20th-century Polish Jews 21st-century Polish Jews Jewish Polish writers Nike Award winners