Michał Witkowski (born 17 January 1975, in

Wrocław Wrocław (; , . german: Breslau, , also known by other names) is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, roughly ...

, Poland) is a Polish

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

Life and career

His first "official" work, ''Copyright'', published in 2001, was a collection of short stories. However, he had previously published, ''Zgorszeni wstają od stołów'' in 1997 as Michał S. Witkowski, with the S. standing for Sebastian. On December 17, 2004, ''Lubiewo'' was published — a radically queer novel that sold an estimated 15,000 copies. The novel has been translated into German, English (''Lovetown''), Spanish, Dutch, Finnish (2007), French,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

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, Slovenian (2010) and Hungarian (2010). His next collection of stories ''Fototapeta'' (Photo-wallpaper) was published in 2006 by W.A.B. More recently, Witkowski has published two "queer crime novels", in which a gay writer named Michał Witkowski acts as

first-person narrator A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller, ...

and detective: ''Drwal'' (The Woodcutter, 2011) and ''Zbrodniarz i dziewczyna'' (The Criminal and the Girl, 2014). Witkowski was nominated three times for the

Nike 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 f ...

, Poland's best-known literary award: in 2006 for ''Lubiewo'' (shortlist), in 2007 for ''Barbara Radziwiłłówna z Jaworzna-Szczakowej'' (longlist), and in 2012 for ''Drwal'' (longlist). ''Lubiewo'' won the

Gdynia Literary Prize Gdynia Literary Prize ( pl, Nagroda Literacka Gdynia) is a Polish literary prize, which is awarded annually to authors of the best books published in the previous year in the prose, poetry, essay and (since 2014) translation categories. It w ...

in 2006, and ''Barbara Radziwiłłówna z Jaworzna-Szczakowej'' was awarded 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, film, theatre, classical music, popular music, visual ar ...

in 2007. ''Lovetown'', the English translation of ''Lubiewo'' was longlisted for the

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize The ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize (1990–2015) was a British literary award. It was inaugurated by British newspaper ''The Independent'' to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched i ...

in 2011. He is a permanent contributor of Ha!art, a Polish cultural magazine and since July 2014 a contributor to

Wprost ''Wprost'' (, meaning "Directly") is a Polish-language weekly news magazine published in Poznań, Poland.

, having previously worked for six years for

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 ''Wp ...

. He is also author of a fashion blog, Fashion Pathology.

Personal life

He describes himself as a

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

. He rejects the label "gay" as a personal identity as referring to a subculture in the queer community, those commonly represented by popular culture.

Works

* ''Copyright'' (2001). Wydawnictwo Zielona Sowa, * ''Lubiewo'' (2005). Korporacja ha!art, * ''Fototapeta'' (2006). Wydawnictwo W.A.B., * ''Barbara Radziwiłłówna z Jaworzna-Szczakowej'' (2007). Wydawnictwo "W.A.B.", * ''Margot'' (2009). Wydawnictwo "Świat Książki", * ''Drwal'' (2011). Wydawnictwo "Świat Książki", * ''Lubiewo bez cenzury'' (Lubiewo uncensored) (2012). Wydawnictwo "Świat Książki", * ''Zbrodniarz i dziewczyna'' (2014). Wydawnictwo "Świat Książki", * ''Fynf und cfancyś'' (2015). Wydawnictwo "Znak", * ''Wymazane'' (2017). Wydawnictwo "Znak"

References

External links

Michał Witkowski
(

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

website, with some content in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Witkowski, Michal 1975 births Living people Writers from Wrocław Polish LGBT novelists Gay novelists 21st-century Polish novelists Polish male novelists 21st-century Polish male writers

Life and career

Personal life

Works

See also

References

External links