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Events to celebrate Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet Wisława Szymborska

03.02.2023 13:30
A host of events are planned for 2023 to mark 100 years since the birth of Polish Nobel Prize-winning poet Wisława Szymborska, officials have announced.  
Wisława Szymborska.
Wisława Szymborska.PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk

The programme of celebrations was unveiled by the Wisława Szymborska Foundation on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported. 

Wisława Szymborska Park

The key event will be the opening of the Wisława Szymborska Park in Kraków, the historic southern Polish city where the poet spent most of her life, officials said. 

Billed as “Poland’s first literary park,” the Szymborska-themed venue will be launched on July 2, the day she was born 100 years ago.

The summer will also see a series of exhibitions, workshops and debates in honour of Szymborska, featuring some of Poland's leading contemporary artists, reporters were told. 

Earlier, a biographical exhibition entitled 100 Years! Wisława Szymborska will open at the Polish upper house of parliament, the Senate, in the capital Warsaw, according to the PAP news agency.   

The showcase is due to open this month; it will then tour the country, officials said. 

Play about Szymborska in Italy

Meanwhile, a play about Wisława Szymborska is set to hit the stage in Italy, officials also announced.  

Directed by Sergio Maifredi and featuring poems and letters written by Szymborska, the production will be shown in Rome and Milan, the PAP news agency reported.

Complete Poems

Another notable event will be the publication of Szymborska’s Complete Poems, an 800-page volume that will also contain previously unreleased material, according to the publishers, Znak.   

Also hitting the shelves will be a new biography of Szymborska and a book of poetry for children, officials said.

Born in 1923, Wisława Szymborska is the author of 13 books of poetry that have been translated into more than 40 foreign languages, the PAP news agency reported.

In 1996, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2011, Szymborska was decorated with Poland’s highest state honour, the Order of the White Eagle.

She died in 2012. 

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, szymborska.org.pl