Michał Witkowski (born 17 January 1975, in
Wrocław
Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
, Poland) is a Polish
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...
.
Life and career
His first "official" work, ''Copyright'', published in 2001, was a collection of short stories. However, he had previously published, ''Zgorszeni wstają od stołów'' in 1997 as Michał S. Witkowski, with the S. standing for Sebastian.
On December 17, 2004, ''Lubiewo'' was published — a radically queer novel that sold an estimated 15,000 copies. The novel has been translated into German, English (''Lovetown''), Spanish, Dutch,
Finnish (2007), French,
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
,
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
,
Lithuanian,
Ukrainian, Slovenian (2010) and
Hungarian (2010). His next collection of stories ''Fototapeta'' (Photo-wallpaper) was published in 2006 by W.A.B. More recently, Witkowski has published two "queer crime novels", in which a gay writer named Michał Witkowski acts as
first-person narrator
A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective, voice, point of view, etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar suc ...
and detective: ''Drwal'' (The Woodcutter, 2011) and ''Zbrodniarz i dziewczyna'' (The Criminal and the Girl, 2014).
Witkowski was nominated three times for the
Nike Award
The Nike Literary Award (, pronounced ) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award for Polish literatu ...
, Poland's best-known literary award: in 2006 for ''Lubiewo'' (shortlist), in 2007 for ''Barbara Radziwiłłówna z Jaworzna-Szczakowej'' (longlist), and in 2012 for ''Drwal'' (longlist). ''Lubiewo'' won the
Gdynia Literary Prize in 2006, and ''Barbara Radziwiłłówna z Jaworzna-Szczakowej'' was awarded 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 ...
in 2007. ''Lovetown'', the English translation of ''Lubiewo'' was longlisted for the
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
The ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize (1990–2015) was a British literary award. It was inaugurated by British newspaper ''The Independent'' to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched i ...
in 2011.
He has been a contributor to
Wprost
''Wprost'' (, meaning "Directly") is a Polish weekly news magazine published in Poznań, Poland.[Polityka
''Polityka'' (, ''Politics'') is a centre-left weekly news magazine in Poland. It had a circulation of 95,300 during 2021. ''Polityka'' has a slightly intellectual, socially liberal profile, setting it apart from the more conservative ''Wprost ...]
. He is also author of a fashion blog, Fashion Pathology.
Personal life
He describes himself as a
homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
.
He rejects the label "gay" as a personal identity as referring to a subculture in the queer community, those commonly represented by popular culture.
Works
* ''Copyright'' (2001). Wydawnictwo Zielona Sowa,
* ''Lubiewo'' (2005). Korporacja ha!art,
* ''Fototapeta'' (2006). Wydawnictwo W.A.B.,
* ''Barbara Radziwiłłówna z Jaworzna-Szczakowej'' (2007). Wydawnictwo "W.A.B.",
* ''Margot'' (2009). Wydawnictwo "Świat Książki",
* ''Drwal'' (2011). Wydawnictwo "Świat Książki",
* ''Lubiewo bez cenzury'' (Lubiewo uncensored) (2012). Wydawnictwo "Świat Książki",
* ''Zbrodniarz i dziewczyna'' (2014). Wydawnictwo "Świat Książki",
* ''Fynf und cfancyś'' (2015). Wydawnictwo "Znak",
* ''Wymazane'' (2017). Wydawnictwo "Znak"
See also
*
Polish literature
Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, ...
*
List of Polish writers
References
External links
Michał Witkowski(
Polish website, with some content in English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witkowski, Michal
1975 births
Living people
Writers from Wrocław
Polish LGBTQ novelists
Gay novelists
21st-century Polish novelists
Polish male novelists
21st-century Polish male writers