Stanisław Pestka (8 April 1929 – 2 April 2015) was a
Kashubian poet. He was born in
Rolbik
Rolbik is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Brusy, within Chojnice County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Brusy, north of Chojnice, and south-west of the regional capital Gdańsk. ...
. Pestka was also a translator of
Russian texts into
Kashubian language
Kashubian () or Cassubian (; ; ) is a West Slavic language belonging to the Lechitic subgroup.Stephen Barbour, Cathie Carmichael, ''Language and Nationalism in Europe'', Oxford University Press, 2000, p.199,
In Poland, it has been an officia ...
. He was the chairman of
Kashubian-Pomeranian Association from 1976 to 1980 and again from 1992 to 1994. He was a Kashubian activist.
He died in 2015.
Publications
In 1950 he graduated from the Jozef Wybicki High School in
Kościerzyna
Kościerzyna (; Pomeranian language, Pomeranian and ; former ) is a town in Kashubia in Gdańsk Pomerania region, northern Poland, with 23,327 inhabitants as of June 2023. It has been the capital of Kościerzyna County in Pomeranian Voivodeship si ...
, and in 1953 he studied Polish Studies at the
University of Poznan. After graduation, he worked as a teacher. In 1958 he settled 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 ...
, cooperated with the magazine ''Kaszëbë'' until its liquidation in 1961, in 1961-1965 headed the cultural department of the ''Ilustrowany Kurier Polski'' (Illustrated Polish Courier), in 1965-1967 worked at the
Polish Radio Broadcasting Station in
Szczecin
Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...
, in 1967-1968 at the magazine ''Fakty i Myśli'' (Facts and Thoughts). From 1968 he lived in Gdańsk again, and was a member of the editorial board of the magazine ''Litery'' (1968-1974), the weekly ''Czas'' (1975-1981). At the same time he was editor-in-chief of the ''Pomerania'' monthly (1969-1972). In the 1980s he worked at the Provincial Cultural Center in Gdańsk, and was again editor-in-chief of ''Pomerania'' from 1990-1994.
He published poetry under the
pen name
A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
Jan Zbrzyca,
and his articles and feuilletons were signed Krëban z Milachòwa.
(The word ''krëban'' or ''kùrban'' literally denoting a jar for storing
animal fat
Animal fats are lipids derived from animals which are used by the animal for a multitude of functions, or can be used by humans for dietary, sanitary, and cosmetic purposes. Depending on the temperature of the fat, it can change between a solid s ...
, while ''Krëbans'' also refers to an ethnic subgroup of Kashubians.
)
*''Południca'', Gdańsk 1976
*''Wizrë ë duchë'', Gdańsk 1986;
*'' Wieczòrny widnik'', 2002
*''W krainie chmurników'', 2011, collection of prose
References
Bibliography
* J. Drzeżdżon, "Współczesna literatura kaszubska 1945-1980", Warszawa 1986
Polish bibliography* "Z zaborskiego matecznika. O Stanisławie Pestce - Janie Zbrzycy", pod red. J. Borzyszkowskiego, Gdańsk 2008.
1929 births
2015 deaths
People from Brusy
Kashubian poets
Kashubian translators
Polish language activists
20th-century Polish poets
20th-century translators
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