Andrzej Sosnowski

Polish poet, prose writer, essayist, translator (including the works of such authors as Ezra Pound, John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, John Cage, Ronald Firbank, and Harry Mathews), and editor of “Literatura na Świecie”. Graduated with a degree in English language studies from the University of Warsaw. Recipient of the Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna prize for the best poetic debut of 1992, the Kościelski Award (1997), the award of Odra magazine for overall body of work (1998), the Kultura Foundation Prize (1994 and 1999), was nominated to the NIKE awards (1997 and 2008), and for the Gdynia Literary Prize. He was the laureate of the first edition of the Silisius Poetry Award of the City of Wrocław. He has published the following books of poems: “Życie na Korei” (Life in Korea, 1992), “Sezon na Helu” (A Season in Hel, 1994), “Oceany” (Oceans, 1996), “Cover” (1997), “Stancje” (Roommates, 1997), “Zoom” (2000), “Taxi” (2003), “Gdzie koniec tęczy nie dotyka ziemi” (Where the End of the Rainbow Doesn’t Touch Ground, 2005), “Po tęczy” (After the Rainbow, 2007), and “poems” (2010). He also has to his credit prose works, including “Nouvelles impressions d‘Amerique” and “Konwój. Opera” (Convoy: An Opera, 1999), as well as a collection of critical sketches from the period 1991 to 2003, entitled “Najryzykowniej” (The Riskiest, 2007).

The poetry of Andrzej Sosnowski, which uses richly layered metaphors, is agreed to be by critics a unique phenomenon in contemporary Polish literature. Sosnowski stands his poems beyond the repertoire of proven wisdom and common meanings. He undermines the cohesiveness of the concepts of fiction, dreams and reality, and even of nothingness. An important feature of his poetry is the consciousness contained within it, that all of existence does not make itself appear to man directly, but rather in a semi-fictional state. His poetry constitutes a distinct, extraordinarily rich and challenging phenomenon in contemporary Polish poetry.

At the Second Joseph Conrad International Literary Festival he will take part in a discussion entitled “Lyric Now!”, dedicated to American poetry, on 6 November (Saturday) at 2:00 p.m. at the Café Massolit (ul. Felicjanek 4). Other guests in attendance will be Jennifer Ashton and and Jacek Gutorow.