Jacek Maria Dehnel (born 1 May 1980 in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

poet, writer, translator and painter.

Life and work

He graduated from the

Stefan Żeromski Stefan Żeromski ( ; 14 October 1864 – 20 November 1925) was a Polish novelist and dramatist belonging to the Young Poland movement at the turn of the 20th century. He was called the "conscience of Polish literature". He also wrote under ...

High School No. 5 in

, where he excelled in

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

. Dehnel studied at the University of Warsaw's College of Inter-Area Individual Studies In the Humanities and Social Sciences (

: ''Kolegium Międzyobszarowych Indywidualnych Studiów Humanistycznych i Społecznych'') and graduated from the Faculty of

Polish Language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

and

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

, where he obtained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(M.A.) degree, writing a thesis on Stanisław Barańczak's translations of Philip Larkin's works. His first collection of poems was the last book recommended by Polish Nobel Prize Laureate,

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...

. Dehnel has published his poems in various literary magazines, including ''Kwartalnik Artystyczny'', ''Studium'', ''Przegląd Artystyczno-Literacki'', ''Topos'', ''Tytuł'', ''Undergrunt''. He also works for an internet literary portal Nieszuflada. Between September 2006 and July 2009, he was a co-host of cultural programme ''ŁOSssKOT'' broadcast on

TVP1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Telewizja Polska 1'', ''Program Pierwszy Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of Telewizja Polska, TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Po ...

(together with musician Tymon Tymański and journalist Maciej Chmiel). Dehnel has translated poetry of such poets as

Osip Mandelshtam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (, ; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school. Osip Mandelstam was arrested during the repressions of the 1930s and sent into internal exile wi ...

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, ...

Mary Oliver Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) was an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and the National Book Award in 1992. She found inspiration for her work in nature and had a lifelong habit of solitary walks in th ...

– unpublished, and

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (194 ...

George Szirtes George Szirtes (; born 29 November 1948) is a British poet and translator from the Hungarian language into English. Originally from Hungary, he has lived in the United Kingdom for most of his life after coming to the country as a refugee at the ...

– published. He has also rendered in Polish lyrics for songs by

Ástor Piazzolla Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed '' nuevo tango'', incorporating elements fr ...

. He has been awarded literary prizes that include the

Kościelski Award The Kościelski Award is an independent Polish literary award, awarded since 1962 by the Geneva-based Kościelski Foundation. The jury issues annual awards to "promising writers" 40 years of age or younger. Past winners have included Sławomir ...

in 2005, the

Paszport Polityki Paszport Polityki (Polityka's Passport) is an annual Polish cultural award presented by the weekly magazine '' Polityka'' since 1993. It is presented in six major categories: literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written wor ...

in 2007 and the cultural award of the city of

''Splendor Gedanesis'' in 2009. He received five nominations for Poland's most prestigious literary prize – the

Nike Award The Nike Literary Award (, pronounced ) 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 for Polish literatu ...

: ''Balzakian'' (2009), ''Ekran kontrolny'' (2010), ''Saturn'' (2012); ''Matka Makryna'' (2015) and ''Krivoklat'' (2017) as well as two nominations for the

Angelus Award The Angelus Central European Literature Award also known as Angelus Award () is a Polish international literary award established in 2006 and presented by the city of Wrocław, Lower Silesia. The award is given annually for best prose books writ ...

for ''Lala'' (2007) and ''Saturn'' (2012) and the 2014 Wisława Szymborska Award for his book of poems ''Języki obce'' ("Foreign Languages"). In 2015, he was awarded Bronze

Medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis The Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture () or Gloria Artis Medal, is a departmental decoration of Poland in arts awarded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland to persons and organizations for distinguis ...

. In 2017, he co-wrote the screenplay to the award-winning

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

animated

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

Loving Vincent ''Loving Vincent'' is a 2017 experimental animated historical drama film about the life of the painter Vincent van Gogh, in particular the circumstances of his death. It is the first fully painted animated feature film. The film, written and d ...

'' about the life of painter

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

, and in particular, the circumstances of his death.

Personal life

He lived and worked in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, from March 2020 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He openly identifies as gay, which is reflected in his literary works. In 2018, he married his long-term partner, translator and historian Piotr Tarczynski, in

Wandsworth Town Hall Wandsworth Town Hall is a municipal building on the corner of Wandsworth High Street and Fairfield Street in Wandsworth, London. The building, which is the headquarters of Wandsworth London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building. Histor ...

in London. Dehnel and his partner publish works under the female pseudonym Maryla Szymiczkowa. In 2019, he undertook

apostasy Apostasy (; ) is the formal religious disaffiliation, disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous re ...

. Dehnel and Tarczynski left Warsaw for Berlin in 2021.

Books

Prose

*''Kolekcja'' ("The Collection"), (a collection of short stories), Marpress,

, 1999 *''Rynek w Smyrnie'', (a collection of short stories), W.A.B.,

, 2007 *''Lala'', (a novel), W.A.B.,

, 2006 ** ''Lala.'' Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Oneworld Publications, London 2018, About the book
on oneworld-publications.com. *''Balzakiana'',(a collection of four mininovels) W.A.B.,

, 2008 *''Saturn. Czarne obrazy z życia mężczyzn z rodziny Goya'', W.A.B.,

(English translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, published by Dedalus Books in 2013), 2011 *''Kosmografia, czyli trzydzieści apokryfów tułaczych'', accompanying an exhibition of 15th-century maps in the Warsaw National Library, Biblioteka Narodowa,

(a collection of short stories), 2012 *''Młodszy księgowy'', (a collection of columns on books and reading), W.A.B.,

, 2013 *''Matka Makryna'' ("Mother Makryna"), W.A.B, 2014 *''Tajemnica domu Helclów'', (co-written with his partner Piotr Tarczyński), Znak literanova, 2015 *''Dziennik Roku Chrystusowego'', W.A.B., 2015 *''Nowy Tajny Detektyw'', NCK and Fundacja Picture Doc, 2015 *''Proteusz, czyli o przemianach. Spacerownik po historii Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie'', Serenissima,

, 2015 *''Krivoklat'', Znak, 2016 *''Rozdarta zasłona'', (co-written with Piotr Tarczyński) Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak, 2016 *''Mrs Mohr Goes Missing'', (co-written with Piotr Tarczyński and translated by Antonia Lloyd Jones) Bloomsbury, 2019 *''Ale z naszymi umarłymi'', Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2019 *''Łabędzie'', Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2023

Poetry

*''Żywoty równoległe'' ("The Parallel Lives"), Zielona Sowa,

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, 2004 *''Wyprawa na południe'' ("An Expedition Southwards"), Teatr Mały w Tychach,

Tychy Tychy (Polish pronunciation: ; ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, approximately south of Katowice. Situated on the southern edge of the Upper Silesian industrial district, the city borders Katowice to the north, Mikołów to the west, Bie ...

, 2005 *''Wiersze'' ("Poems"), Lampa i Iskra Boża,

, 2006 *''Brzytwa okamgnienia'', Biuro Literackie,

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, 2007 *''Ekran kontrolny'', Biuro Literackie,

, 2009 *''Rubryki strat i zysków'', Biuro Literackie,

, 2011 *''Języki obce'' ("Foreign Languages"), Biuro Literackie,

, 2013 *''Seria w ciemność'', Biuro Literackie,

, 2016 * ''Najdziwniejsze'' (The strangest), Wrocław, Biuro Literackie, 2019 * ''Bruma'', Cracow, Wydawnictwo a5, 2022

Translations

''Zebrane'' (Collected: The Less Deceived, The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows), Biuro Literackie,

, 2008 *

Edmund White Edmund Valentine White III (January 13, 1940 – June 3, 2025) was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. A pioneering figure in LGBTQ and especially gay literature after the Stonewall riots, he wrote with ra ...

''Hotel de Dream'', Biuro Literackie,

(with Piotr Tarczyński), 2012 * Francis Scott Fitzgerald ''Wielki Gatsby'' (

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' () is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious mi ...

), Znak,

, 2013

Other

*''Six Polish Poets'' (as a poet and as an editor), 2009. Arc Publications, London. *''Il vetro è sottile. Poeti polacchi contemporanei tradotti da poeti'' (as a poet and editor with Matteo Campagnoli), 2012. Bellinzona, Casagrande.

References

External links

Home pageNieszufladaJacek Dehnel
at Culture.pl *
Works of Jacek Dehnel
o
Polona.pl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dehnel, Jacek 1980 births Living people Polish LGBTQ poets Polish LGBTQ painters Polish gay writers Polish gay artists Gay poets Gay painters Polish male poets Polish male painters Writers from Gdańsk