Radek Rak (born 1987) is a Polish veterinarian best known as a writer of

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

literature.Baśń o wężowym sercu albo wtóre słowo o Jakóbie Szeli
/ref> He authored both novels and short stories. His novels are winners of several Polish literary awards. With the 2015 short story "Kwiaty paproci" ("Fern Flowers") he took part in the project '' Polish Legends''. ''Baśń o wężowym sercu'' was adapted into an opera by and for stage by . He is married and a resident of

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 ...

Novels

* ''Kocham cię, Lilith'' (2014, debut novel) ::Robert Z., a patient of a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...

is involved with "demonic painter Iwona" and the "intriguing doctor Małgorzata". But suddenly Iwona disappears and it turns out that nobody but Robert ever saw her... The novel, starting realistrically, gradually turns out into a dreamlike, illogical, fantastic tale... Eventually the titular Lilith appears as well... *''Puste niebo'' Empty Sky"(2016) ::From publisher's review: "The novel was created out of longing for times gone by, a city that never existed and a history that could not have happened. ''Puste niebo'' tells the story of magical

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, extraordinary inhabitants of the former ''

Kresy Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...

'' Eastern Borderlands"and strange creatures from the borderlands of the afterlife. Radek Rak's novel is magical realism in its original Polish edition". The protagonist, Tołpi, a naive youth, smashes the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

and has to make a new one, because the life without the Moon is disrupted. ::It was nominated for the Janusz A. Zajdel Award and won the Gold Distinction of the Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award. *' (2019) ::The novel is loosely based on the legends about

Jakub Szela Jakub Szela (was born 14 July 1787, Smarżowa, in Galicia - died 21 April 1860, Dealul Ederii, in Bukovina, now Romania) was a Polish leader of a peasant uprising against the Polish gentry in Galicia in 1846; directed against manorial property ...

, the leader of a 1846 peasant uprising known as the

Galician slaughter The Galician Peasant Uprising of 1846, also known as the Galician Rabacja, Galician Slaughter, or the Szela uprising (; or ''Rabacja galicyjska''), was a two-month uprising of impoverished Austrian Galician peasants that led to the suppressio ...

. Radek Rak i Marta Potocka laureatami Nagrody im. Janusza A. Zajdla za 2019 rok
/ref> :: The novel won several Polish literary awards, including the Janusz A. Zajdel Award, 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 ...

, the and the Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award. * (2022) ::From publisher's summary: "''Agla'' is a daring adventure story, but also an insightful and moving psychological novel about growing up and changing, about love and discovering one's physicality, about disappointed friendships, exclusion and loneliness, about finding oneself and becoming a human being in the full sense of the word." ::Winner of the Janusz A. Zajdel Award, Jerzy Żuławski Literary Award, Nowa Fantastyka Award (Polish Book of the Year category) * (2023) ::From publisher's summary: "Agla. Aurora is a book about how good people accidentally build totalitarianism. And about how the answers to our questions often sound different than we would like them to." ::Nominated for Zajdel Award . Nominated for Nowa Fantastyka, but did not win.Nagrody „Nowej Fantastyki” przyznane
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rak, Radek 1987 births Living people Polish fantasy writers Nike Award winners Janusz A. Zajdel Award winners