Conversation with Olga Tokarczuk

The work of writer and activist Olga Tokarczuk is notable for its imaginative storytelling combining autobiographical elements with fragments akin to the historical novel, and philosophical reflection. Translated into more than thirty languages, her work consists of nine novels, three collections of short stories, and a collection of poems. Notable among them are the children’s book L’ànima perduda (The Lost Soul, Thule, 2019), Un lloc anomenat Antany (Primeval and Other Times, Proa, 2001; Anagrama, 2020), Sobre los huesos de los muertos (Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead, Siruela, 2016), and Les Livres de Jakób (The Books of Jacob, Noir sur Blanc, 2018), the latter being the winner of the 2015 Nike Award which is Poland’s most prestigious literary prize. The same year she also received the International Bridge Prize in recognition of her commitment to peace, democracy, and interculturalism. In 2018 she was awarded the Man Booker Prize for Flights (in Catalan, Cos – Rata, 2019 and in Spanish Los errantes - Anagrama 2019), a novel that is widely admired for its fragmented imaginative prose unfolding around the theme of travelling.

The evening with Olga Tokarczuk will be introduced by Marta Rebón, a writer and translator of such famous authors as Svetlana Aleksievich, Vasili Grossman, and Leo Tolstoy, who has received several awards for her work.