Abstract

Cambridge Polish Studies welcomes eminent Polish novelist Dorota Masłowska to Sidney Sussex College for an evening of readings from her work (in English and Polish) and discussion. The discussion will be led by Dr Stanley Bill, Lecturer in Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge, together with noted translator of Polish literature Antonia Lloyd-Jones.

​Dorota Masłowska burst onto Poland’s literary scene at the age of nineteen with her debut novel Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną (2002 – later translated into English as Snow White and Russian Red). The book’s publication was among the most explosive events of post-1989 Polish literary history, as critics hailed an extraordinary new talent turning the colloquial language of everyday Polish provincial life into compelling literature.

Masłowska has since published two novels, two plays and many essays. Her most recent novel Kochanie, zabiłam nasze koty (2012 – Honey, I Killed Our Cats) continues her experimentation with literary Polish, but is set in the imaginatively constructed setting of a large American city. Masłowska has also released a music album under the pseudonym ‘Mister D’.

As part of the event, we will present the Talkman Prize for Literary Translation, awarded to the best translation into English of a work of Polish literature by a student of Polish Studies at Cambridge.