Lullaby for a Hanged Man by Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki in NY, MA, NC

The Polish Cultural Institute is pleased to be partnering with Calypso Editions to promote their newest title, Lullaby for a Hanged Man by Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki, translated from the Polish by Julia and Peter Sherwood.

Lullaby for a Hanged Man tells the story of three East Europeans - a Polish musician, a Croatian artist, and a budding Polish writer (the author's alter ego) - trying to build a new life for themselves far from home, in dark and cold Iceland. Dedicated to the author's friend, the composer and violinist Szymon Kuran, this sensitive exploration of friendship, love, insanity, as well as a depiction of the immigrant experience and an artistic and spiritual quest, is by turns wildly comic, moving, and poetic. Nearly 7,000 copies of this award-winning novella were sold within three weeks of its release in France.

Dobrzaniecki will be joined by his co-translator Julia Sherwood at events in New York, at WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn, at Boston University as part of their European Voices reading series, and at the University of North Carolina.

Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki is the author of several novels, novellas, and collections of short stories. After studying theology and philosophy and travelling around Europe, he spent 10 years living in Reykjavík, studying Icelandic language and literature, and trying his hand at a variety of jobs and writing. His books have been translated into ten languages and, as might be expected from his itinerant lifestyle, are set in a number of countries, from Iceland, UK, Austria, and Denmark to Greece and Poland. A recipient of several Polish and French literary scholarships, Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki has been nominated or shortlisted for a number of Poland's top literary awards, including the Nike; the Cogito Public Media Award; the Angelus Central European Literature Award; and the prestigious Passport prize awarded by the weekly Polityka. He lives in Vienna.

Julia Sherwood was born and grew up in Bratislava, then Czechoslovakia, and now lives in London. After studying at universities in Cologne and Munich she settled in the UK, where she spent more than 20 years working for Amnesty International. Since 2008 she has worked as a freelance translator from English, Czech, Slovak, German, Polish and Russian into Slovak and English. Her book-length translations into English include Samko Tále's Cemetery Book by Daniela KapitáHová, Freshta by Petra Procházková, and, jointly with Peter Sherwood, The House of the Deaf Man by Peter Kriatúfek and Ilona. My Life with the Bard by Jana JuráHová. Her Slovak translation of Lullaby for a Hanged Man appeared in Bratislava in 2013.

Peter Sherwood is a linguist and translator based in London. He taught Hungarian language, linguistics and literature at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (now part of University College London) until 2007. From 2008 until 2014 he was the first László Birinyi, Sr., Distinguished Professor of Hungarian Language and Culture in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to his joint translations with Julia Sherwood, he has translated from the Hungarian the novels The Book of Fathers by Miklós Vámos and The Finno-Ugrian Vampire by Noémi Szécsi as well as stories by Dezso Kosztolányi, Zsigmond Móricz and others, along with works of poetry, drama and philosophy.

Click here for more information about the book and to purchase it >>>

Lullaby for a Hanged Man by Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki is presented by Calypso Editions, WORD Bookstore, Boston University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

Wednesday, March 30 at 7:00pm
WORD Bookstore, 126 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY

Thursday, March 31 at 6:00pm
European Voices: A Reading and Conversation with Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki and Julia Sherwood
Goethe-Institut Boston, 170 Beacon St, Boston, MA

Tuesday, April 5 at 5:30pm
University of North Carolina, Toy Lounge, Dey Hall
http://www.polishculture-nyc.org/