Dorota Masłowska (Polish pronunciation:; born 3 July 1983) is a Polish writer, playwright, columnist and journalist.

Life and work

Masłowska was born in

Wejherowo Wejherowo ( csb, Wejrowò; german: Neustadt in Westpreußen, formerly Weyhersfrey) is a city in Gdańsk Pomerania, northern Poland, with 48,735 inhabitants (2021). It has been the capital of Wejherowo County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 19 ...

, and grew up there. She applied for the

University of Gdańsk The University of Gdańsk ( pl, Uniwersytet Gdański) is a public research university located in Gdańsk, Poland. It is one of the top 10 universities in Poland and is also an important centre for the studies of the Kashubian language. History ...

's faculty of psychology and was accepted, but left the studies for Warsaw, where she joined the culture studies at the

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

. She first appeared in the mass-media when her debut book ''Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną'' (translated to English as either ''White and Red'' in the UK or ''Snow White and Russian Red'' in the US; literally means ''Polish-Russian War under White-Red Flag'') was published. Largely controversial, mostly because of the language seen by many as vulgar, cynical and simple, the book was praised by many intellectuals as innovative and fresh. Among the most active supporters of Masłowska were

Marcin Świetlicki Marcin Świetlicki (born 24 December 1961) is a Polish poet, writer, and musician. He lives and works in Kraków, Poland. Świetlicki was born in Piaski, near Lublin, Poland. He studied Polish Literature at the Jagiellonian University in Krak� ...

and

Polityka ''Polityka'' (, ''Politics'') is a centre-left weekly news magazine in Poland. With a circulation of 200,050 (as of April 2011), it was the country's biggest selling weekly, ahead of ''Newsweek''s Polish edition, '' Newsweek Polska'', and '' W ...

weekly staff, most notably renowned writer

Jerzy Pilch Jerzy Pilch (; 10 August 1952 – 29 May 2020) was a Polish writer, columnist, and journalist. Critics have compared Pilch's style to Witold Gombrowicz, Milan Kundera, or Bohumil Hrabal. Early life and education Born and raised in the smal ...

. A notable example of post-modernist literature, her book became a best-seller in Poland and won Masłowska several notable awards as well as general support among the critics. It was almost immediately translated onto several languages, including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Russian, English, Hungarian, Czech and Lithuanian, and won the

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

. Her second novel ''Paw królowej'' (''The Queen's Peacock'') did not gain similar popularity, even though it won the

NIKE Literary Award The Nike Literary Award ( pl, Nagroda Literacka „Nike") is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award fo ...

in 2006. As of 2009, Dorota Masłowska's permanent residence is in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. In 2009, she resided in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

on a

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD (german: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), was founded in 1925 and is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation. Organisation ''DAAD'' is a ...

stipend. She has collaborated with a number of magazines, most notably the

Przekrój ''Przekrój'' (; ''Cross-section'') was the oldest Polish weekly newsmagazine in operation, established in 1945 in Kraków. After temporary closure in 2013, it was bought by photographer Tomasz Niewiadomski and subsequently relaunched in December ...

and Wysokie Obcasy weeklies, as well as Lampa monthly and the quarterly B EAT magazine. Her first play, ''Dwoje biednych Rumunów mówiących po polsku'' (''A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians''), has been translated by Lisa Goldman and Paul Sirett and was performed for the first time in the UK at

Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

from 28 February – 29 March 2008 with a cast featuring Andrew Tiernan, Andrea Riseborough, Howard Ward,

Valerie Lilley Valerie Lilley (born 14 April 1939) is a Northern Irish actress who has played many television roles on dramas such as '' Doctors'' and ''Grange Hill''. Lilley most recently appeared in BBC1's '' Casualty'' as Daisy Fennings. Prior to that Chan ...

, Ishia Bennison,

John Rogan John William "Bud" Rogan February 12 – September 11, 1905; some sources indicate 1867, 1868 and 1871 as his birth year) is recorded as the second-tallest person ever at , behind only Robert Wadlow. Biography John Rogan was born in Hende ...

and

Jason Cheater Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He wa ...

. Neither Goldman nor Sirett know Polish and based their adaptation on a technical translation and a line by line translation with Dorota Maslowska in London in 2007. An American translation of the play by Benjamin Paloff was commissioned by TR Warszawa in 2007 and has been performed in New York. Dorota Maslowska October 2015 she was awarded the Bronze

Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

Works

*2002: ''Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną''. Warsaw:

Lampa i Iskra Boża Lampa may refer to: Places * Lampa, Chile, a Chilean town in the Province of Chacabuco, Metropolitan Region of Santiago * Lampa, China, an alternative name for Lampacau, an island in the Pearl River Delta * Lampa (Crete), a town of ancient Crete, ...

, (UK edition: ''White and Red'', Atlantic Books, ; US edition: ''Snow White and Russian Red'', Grove Press, ) *2005: ''Paw królowej''. Warsaw:

, (no English translation announced yet) *2006: ''Dwoje biednych Rumunów mówiących po polsku''. Warsaw:

, . Translated into English as ''A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians'', by Lisa Goldman and Paul Sirett, Oberon Books Ltd (29 Feb 2008), , . Staged at Soho Theatre, London, between 28 February – 29 March 2008. *2008: ''Między nami dobrze jest'', drama *2010: ''Schneeweiß und Russenrot'', drama *2012: ''Kochanie, zabiłam nasze koty'' ("Honey, I Killed Our Cats"), novel *2018: ''Inni ludzie'', novel

References

External links

''The sweet taste of underground''
– Essay on Maslowska's second book, a rap poem, by German journalist

Ina Hartwig Ina Hartwig (born 11 July 1963) is a German writer, literature critic and academic lecturer. From July 2016, she has been ''Kulturdezernentin'' in Frankfurt, the city councillor responsible for culture and science. Early life and education Har ...

at signandsight.com
''I Was a Teenage Polish Existentialist''
– Essay on Maslowska's first novel by Wolfie Darling.
Dorota Masłowska
at culture.pl {{DEFAULTSORT:Maslowska, Dorota Living people People from Wejherowo 21st-century Polish novelists Nike Award winners Polish women novelists 21st-century Polish women writers Recipients of the Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis 1983 births