Jan Michalski (1953–2002) was a Polish/Swiss/French

book publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

who, along with Vera Michalski-Hoffmann, founded the Jan Michalski Foundation in

Montricher Montricher is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland, located in the district of Morges District, Morges. History Montricher is first mentioned in 1049 as ''Mons Richarius''. In ...

, Switzerland which awards the annual

Jan Michalski Prize Jan Michalski Prize for Literature (French: Prix Jan Michalski) is a Swiss literary prize for any work of fiction or non-fiction published anywhere in the world in any language. It is meant to recognize authors from around the world and world liter ...

in literature.

Publishing

In 1986, Michalski and Vera Michalski-Hoffmann created ''Les Éditions Noir sur Blanc'' to publish Slavic writers of

novels A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of '' ...

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

and

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

as well as non-fiction

essays An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

documents A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes a "teaching" or "lesson": ...

personal journal A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital ...

s and

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

es. ''Noir sur Blanc'' was created in

Romandy Romandy ( or ; Arpitan: ''Romandia'')Before World War I, the term French Switzerland () waalso used ( or , , ) is the French-speaking historical and cultural region of Switzerland. In 2020, about 2 million people, or 22.8% of the Swiss pop ...

, then in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1990 and

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 ...

in 1991. One of the first texts published was ''Proust contre la déchéance'', a short essay written by the painter

Józef Czapski Józef Czapski (3 April 1896 – 12 January 1993) was a Polish artist, author, and critic, as well as an officer of the Polish Army. As a painter, he is notable for his membership in the '' Kapist'' movement, which was heavily influenced by Céza ...

between 1940 and 1941 when a prisoner in the Starobyelsk camp in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Subsequently, the (now married) couple acquired several publishing houses that were later brought together under the

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

-based holding group ''Libella''. The holding now includes ''Noir sur Blanc'', ''Les

Éditions Phébus The éditions Phébus is a French publishing house established in 1976 by Jean-Pierre Sicre and taken over in 2003 by the . Catalogue Phébus publishes a catalog of French and foreign literature that is both contemporary (Julie Otsuka, Elif Sh ...

'', ''Buchet-Chastel'' and ''Le Temps Apprivoisé'', among others. They published in Polish books by

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...

, Henry Millar,

Blaise Cendrars Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), better known as Blaise Cendrars (), was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European ...

and many others. Polish authors, such as

Sławomir Mrożek Sławomir Mrożek (29 June 1930 – 15 August 2013) was a Polish dramatist, writer and cartoonist. Mrożek joined the Polish United Workers' Party during the reign of Stalinism in the People's Republic of Poland, and made a living as a politic ...

were translated into French and English and sold in their Librairie Polonaise book store, located on

Boulevard Saint Germain The Boulevard Saint-Germain () is a major street in Paris on the Rive Gauche of the Seine. It curves in a 3.5-kilometre (2.1 miles) arc from the Pont de Sully in the east (the bridge at the edge of Île Saint-Louis) to the Pont de la Concor ...

in Paris, which still exists. Subsequently, in 2000, they founded the Libella editorial group.
Le journal de la photographie

Jan Michalski Foundation

In 2002, following the premature death of Jan Michalski at age 49, Hoffmann continued the project which resulted in the creation of the Jan Michalski Foundation in 2004. The Jan Michalski Foundation, inaugurated in 2013, offers a large multilingual book library of 80,000 volumes, an auditorium, an exhibition hall, a literary café and cabins used as writing residences. The foundation awards an annual prize, the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature.

Sources

External links

Fondation Jan Michalski
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michalski, Jan Swiss publishers (people) Swiss book publishers (people) French book publishers (people) Polish publishers (people) 1953 births 20th-century Swiss businesspeople 2002 deaths