Sophie Podolski (8 October 1953 – 29 December 1974) was a Belgian poet and graphic artist. She published only one book during her lifetime, ''Le pays où tout est permis'' (1972; ''The Country Where Everything Is Allowed''), in which the poems were reproduced in her own artistic handwriting for its original 1972 edition (a censored, typeset edition followed in 1973).

Biography

Sophie Podolski studied etching at the Académie de Boitsfort and was associated with the artistic community at Montfaucon Research Center. Podolski had schizophrenia and spent time in psychiatric clinics in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. She attempted suicide in Brussels on 19 December 1974 and died 10 days later as a result. The method is not disclosed in articles about her. Podolski left a number of unpublished poems and graphic artworks which were posthumously published by :fr:Marc Dachy. Her work entitled ''Sophie Podolski Snow Queen'' was published as a special issue (no. 6, 1980) of the literary magazine '' Luna Park''. Her poetry was much admired by the novelist and poet

Roberto Bolaño Roberto Bolaño Ávalos (; 28 April 1953 – 15 July 2003) was a Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. In 1999, Bolaño won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel ''Los detectives salvajes'' (''The Savage Detectives' ...

, who referenced Podolski in his novels ''

The Savage Detectives ''The Savage Detectives'' (Spanish: ''Los Detectives Salvajes'') is a novel by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño published in 1998. Natasha Wimmer's English translation was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2007. The novel tells the st ...

'', ''

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

'', and '' Distant Star'', and in his short stories "Vagabond in France and Belgium" and "Dance Card" (both collected in '' Last Evenings on Earth'').

References

External links

"From ''Le pays où tout est permis''"
translated into English by

Paul Legault Paul Legault ( ; born June 25, 1985) is a Canadian-American poet. Life Legault was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and raised in Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Southern California, where he obtained a BFA in screenwriting, and the Uni ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Podolski, Sophie 1953 births 1974 suicides 1974 deaths Belgian poets in French Belgian artists Artists who died by suicide Suicides in Belgium People with schizophrenia 20th-century Belgian poets Belgian women poets 20th-century Belgian women writers 20th-century Belgian women artists Belgian people of Ukrainian descent