A Library, a Garden, and a Reunion: Warsaw in May

The rooftop garden of this stunning University of Warsaw library is not only beautiful but also a symbol of Poland’s blossoming capital city – and of the resilience of Polish intellectual life.

Why Speak Polish?

It’s easy to say which nation has the fastest trains (France) or the largest number of prime ministers who’ve probably been eaten by sharks (Australia), but it’s impossible to know which country has the best writers, let alone the best poets. Even so, if cash money were on the line, you’d find few critics willing to bet against Poland.
– David Orr,
The New York Times,
July 29, 2007

Isabelle Sokolnicka concurs, and thinks the language may have something to do with it.

An Invisible Rope – Portraits of Czesław Miłosz

Friends, colleagues, students, translators, celebrate the life of the great poet, a man defined by his language.

Polish Invasion

Could one say about the years that Polish soldiers spent in Scotland: they were the best of times, they were the worst of times?

Wojtek the Bear: Polish War Hero

Private Wojtek really was a member of the Polish II Corps, saw action at Monte Cassino, Ancona and Bologna. As one Italian newspaper put it: Wojtek l’orso che libero l’Italia. Wojtek now has a monument in Edinburgh and in Poland. Rome, anyone?

Scotland and Poland: Historical Encounters, 1500-2010

A 16th century mayor of Warsaw was a Scottish immigrant. In the 1940s, and again this century, Scotland has welcomed Poles. Time to renew this “auld acquaintance… for auld lang syne.”

Scotland and Poland: for Auld Lang Syne

By the time the Scots and the Poles renewed their acquaintance during World War II, “the Poles often began by assuming that the Scots were a sort of English… and the Scots in turn by assuming that Poles were a sort of Russian.” A temporary misunderstanding that soon led to a solid friendship.

A Polish Book of Monsters: Five Dark Tales from Contemporary Poland

A new translation of eerie stories by contemporary Polish writers. From PIASA Books.

Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, a Tale of Love and Fallout

Lauren Redniss’s poetic biography glows in the dark, not with the garish light of fluorescence but with the mysterious, deep inner light of radium.

2011 – The Year of Marie Skłodowska-Curie

The greatest scientist of the last century is celebrated on the 100th anniversary of her second Nobel Prize.

The Katyń Order – A Novel of WWII Reviewed

American novelist Doug Jacobson weaves a fictional tale against the background of the great crime.

CR Talks To… Doug Jacobson, Author of The Katyń Order

Maureen Mroczek Morris talks to to the author of The Katyń Order about the use of fiction to tell a historical tale.

This Way: Covering/uncovering Tadeusz Borowski’s This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen

Artists from Europe, America, Australia and Asia try to capture the essence of Tadeusz Borowski’s stories from Auschwitz published in 1948. But can art capture the essence of Auschwitz?