Born to write...

1. Born to write... Some time ago Lodz wasn’t only a city of factories and large industry. It was also a very important cultural centre. A lot of musicians, actors, painters, writers and novelists who were born there are famous and known across Europe and throughout the world. Nowadays they are associated with our city and with Polish culture. In Lodz there are a lot “memory places” commemorating their relationship with our city.

2. Władysław Stanisław Reymont (1867 – 1925) A Polish novelist, a laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1924. His best-known book is a novel entitled ‘The Peasants’. Reymont wasn’t born in Lodz but he spent his childhood in Tuszyn near Lodz. There he attended a local school and afterwards he was sent to Warsaw by his father. In the capital he worked as a tailor, and later as an actor in a provincial travelling theatre. He loved travelling and he often changed his accommodation and jobs.

3. Władysław Stanisław Reymont (1867 – 1925) Thanks to his father's connections, Reymont took up employment as a gateman at a railway station near Koluszki. After an accident in which Reymont was seriously injured, he started to make money from writing books and stories. He is the author of very well-known books such as ‘The Deceiver’, ‘Ferments’, ‘The Dreamer’, ‘The Last Sejm of the Polish Republic’, ‘The Vampire’, ‘The Revolt’ and ‘The Peasants’, of course. However, the most popular book which made him famous is ‘The Promised Land’. It’s one of his books connected with the history of Lodz. It is a very interesting social picture of the city of Lodz during the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century, and has been translated into at least 15 languages.

4. Julian Tuwim (1894 – 1953) A poet, a writer, an author of songs and opera wordbooks, a translator of Pushkin and other Russian poets. Born in Lodz at 44 Widzewska Street into a family of assimilated Jews. He was educated in Lodz and in Warsaw, where he studied law and philosophy at Warsaw University. In 1919 Tuwim co-founded the Skamander group of experimental poets with Antoni Słonimski and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. He was a major figure in Polish literature, known especially for his children’sliterature – ‘Bambo the Black Child’, ‘Glasses’ or ‘The Locomotive’.

5. Julian Tuwim (1894 – 1953) He used a lot of pseudonyms: Oldlen, Tuvim, Schyzio Frenik, Wim, and Roch Pekiński. In 1939 he emigrated to France, through Romania and Italy, and then finally to New York, where he spent ‘the war time’. During this time he wrote ‘Polish Flowers’ – a very famous epic poem in which he remembers with nostalgia his early childhood in Lodz. After the war he returned to Poland and lived in Warsaw. There he worked as an art manager in the New Theatre. All his life he spent writing and co-operating with literary newspapers. He wrote well known and popular poems such as ‘The Ball at the Opera’, ‘Lurking for God’ or ‘Dancing Socrates’

6. Jerzy Kosiński (1933 - 1991) A photographer, an actor and a very controversial yet famous Polish-American novelist. A two-time President of the American Chapter of P.E.N. He was born into a Jewish family in Lodz. During the Second World War he and his parents lived in a small village and that’s why they survived. After the war he lived in Jelenia Góra. In winter he worked as a ski instructor in Zakopane and in summeras a culture-education instructor (in Polish kaowiec:) in Międzyzdroje. Afterwards he studied history and social science at Lodz University. In 1957 he emigrated to the USA where he lived until his death.

7. Jerzy Kosiński (1933 - 1991) During that time Kosinski studied at Columbia University and New School for Social Research. In 1965 he received his American citizenship. He later worked at Wesleyan University, Yale and Princeton. Kosiński suffered from multiple illnesses at the end of his life, and was under attack from journalists who accused him of plagiarism. By the time he reached his late 50s, he was suffering from an irregular heartbeat as well as severe physical and nervous exhaustion. Kosiński committed suicide on May 3, 1991, by wrapping a plastic bag around his head and suffocating to death. His suicide note read: ‘I am going to put myself to sleep now for a bit longer than usual. Call it Eternity.’ He was known for various novels, among them ‘The Painted Bird’ and ‘Being There’ (adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1979). Other books which he wrote are: ‘Steps’, ‘Cockpit’ and ‘The Hermit of 69th Street’.

8. Andrzej Sapkowski (1948) A fantasy writer, a translator. He has been an Honorary Citizen of Lodz since 2008. Sapkowski is best known for his best-selling book series ‘The Witcher’ (published in the Polish fantasy magazine ‘Fantastyka’). Before turning to writing, Sapkowski studied economics at university in Lodz. Afterwards he worked as a sales representative for a fur trade company.

9. Andrzej Sapkowski (1948) He likes writing and meeting his readers. He speaks a lot and in a very interesting manner.He wrote for example ‘Sword of Destiny’, ‘The Last Wish’, ‘Spellmaker’ and ‘Something Ends, Something Begins’. His books are famous especially among teenagers. A lot of computer games have been created based on his books andthe ‘fantastic universe’ created by Sapkowski. He is a very popular writer in Poland - he won, for example, Polityka's Passport Award in 1997. His books have been translated into at least 15 languages.

10. Zbigniew Nienacki (1929-1994) A writer and a journalist. His childhood he spent near Lodz – in Słupia Skierniewicka, where he could get to know ‘countryside life’ and develop his imagination. The fact that he had been brought up in a village had very serious influence on his writing.When he was twelve years old, he decided that he would be a writer. After the Second World War he returned to Lodz, where he studied at the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School. During his studies he started to write short stories and novels. Nienacki worked as an editor of a Lodz newspaper (Głos Robotniczy – the Workers’ Voice).

11. Zbigniew Nienacki (1929-1994) He achieved his greatest fame for his book ‘Pan Samochodzik’ – (‘Mr Car’). He was a very controversial writer some time ago – his book ‘Once a Year in Skiroławki’ was strongly criticised by the media of Communist Poland. He wrote for adults and for teenagers. His best known adventure books are ‘The Island of Wrongdoers’, ‘The Book of Fear’ and ‘Big forest’. His last days he spent far from the madding crowds – he moved to a small village in Masuria where he eventually died. Nienacki liked to spend a lot of time alone. He wasn’t keen on parties and usually did things on his own. He was a classic loner, a tendency you can also notice in his books and stories.