Dominika Słowik (born 1988) is a Polish writer. Her novel ''Zimowla'' brought her the

Paszport Polityki Paszport Polityki (Polityka's Passport) is an annual Polish cultural award presented by the weekly magazine '' Polityka'' since 1993. It is presented in six major categories: literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written wor ...

2019 award.

Early life and education

Dominika Słowik was born on 10 September 1988, in

Jaworzno Jaworzno is a City with powiat rights, city county in southern Poland in the Silesian Voivodeship, near Katowice. It lies in the Silesian Highlands, on the Przemsza river (a tributary of the Vistula River, Vistula). Jaworzno belongs to Lesser Pol ...

, where she completed her primary and secondary education. She then studied Spanish

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

at the College of Interdisciplinary Individual Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences of

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

Career

Słowik debuted in 2015 with a novel ''Atlas: Doppelganger.'' The book tells the story of a childhood set during the post-1989 transformation era Poland, where the crumbling apartment blocks form a mythical literary scenery. Literary critic Justyna Sobolewska wrote in a review that the opening of the novel contained "one of the best depictions of apartment blocks ever written". ''Atlas: Doppelganger'' was shortlisted for the Gdynia Literary Prize. In 2019, Słowik published her second novel, ''Zimowla'': a multilayered coming-of-age story set in a fictitious, small provincial Polish town. Its narrative core is set in 2005, but the history of various characters and the region itself is key to the story which reflects the complex past of Poland. Słowik borrows from a variety of literary conventions, using elements of young adult adventure novels, thrillers,

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German, as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

and magic realism to give nuance to her storytelling. She worked on the book, in part, during a

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

City of Literature creative residency program. The novel brought Słowik the

award and the Odkrycie roku ("breakthrough of the year") prize awarded by Onet.pl. ''Zimowla'' was also named the

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Book of the Month in January 2020. In 2021, Słowik published her first collection of short stories, ''Samosiejki'', characterized by the elements of the unknown or bizarre interwoven into otherwise common settings. In 2023, an excerpt of the collection appeared in English translation by Jess Jensen Mitchell in ''Two Lines Journal''. Słowik lives in Kraków.

Works

Novels

* ''Atlas: Doppelganger,'' 2015 * ''Zimowla'', Kraków 2019

Short stories

* ''Sanatorium'', short story for O_KA literary project, 2016 * ''Samosiejki'', short story collection, 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Słowik, Dominika Living people 21st-century Polish novelists 21st-century Polish women writers Polish women novelists People from Jaworzno 1988 births Jagiellonian University alumni Polish women short story writers