The Independent Publishing House NOWA (, meaning 'new' or '

nova A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

') was the first underground publishing house in the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

(see

samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

). After opening in 1977, it soon became the largest independent publisher in Communist

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 ...

. In 1989, after the fall of Communism and the change to a democratic political system, the publishing house changed its name to ''SuperNowa'' (meaning "supernew" or “

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

”) and became private in 1993. It continues to publish works to this day, including books by

Andrzej Sapkowski Andrzej Sapkowski (; born 21 June 1948) is a Polish fantasy writer. He is best known for his series of books '' The Witcher'', which revolves around the eponymous monster-hunter, Geralt of Rivia. The saga has been popularized through television ...

Beginning

In 1977, Students at

John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (, , abbreviation KUL) is a university established in 1918. History :pl:Idzi Radziszewski, Father Idzi Benedykt Radziszewski founded the university in 1918. Vladimir Lenin, Lenin allowed the priest ...

started an independent publishing house, creating their own magazine, ''Zapis'', and the first two issues were published under that name. The name ''Nieocenzurowana Oficyna Wydawnicza'' (NOWA-Uncensored Publishing House) was suggested by Janusz Krupski, Piotr Jegliński and Wit Wójtowicz, and that summer, the Lublin students contacted Mirosław Chojecki, an activist for the

Workers' Defense Committee The Workers' Defense Committee ( , KOR) was a Polish civil society group that was established to give aid to prisoners and their families after the June 1976 protests and ensuing government crackdown. It was a precursor and inspiration for efforts ...

, who agreed regarding the name. Under Chojecki's leadership, NOWA was moved to Warsaw, and in August 1977, its first book was issued, titled ''Pochodzenie Systemu'' (The Origin of the System). It was authored by Marek Tarniewski, whose real name was Jakub Karpiński, a sociologist, who had been expelled from

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well as 100 specializat ...

in the late 1960s.

Activity

From 1977 until 1989, NOWA published approximately 300 books, consisting of both Polish and foreign literature, as well as modern history. Average circulation ranged from several hundred to several thousand per title. NOWA also printed a number of underground magazines, including "Zapis", "Krytyka", "Puls", and "Tygodnik Mazowsze". It was organized along the lines of a professional publishing house and handled its own printing and distribution. Profits from book sales allowed NOWA to pay royalties to its writers and salaries to its translators, printers, and distributors. In the mid-1980s, NOWA began offering video and audio tapes.

Selected publications

* Czarna księga cenzury PRL (Black Book of Censorship in Communist Poland), 1977, *

Tadeusz Konwicki Tadeusz Konwicki (22 June 1926 – 7 January 2015) was a Polish writer and film director, as well as a member of the Polish Language Council. Life Konwicki was born in 1926 as the only son of Jadwiga Kieżun and Michał Konwicki in Naujoji Vil ...

, ''Kompleks polski'' (Polish Complex), 1977, *

Kazimierz Brandys Kazimierz Brandys (27 October 1916 – 11 March 2000) was a Polish essayist and writer of film scripts. Biography Brandys was born in Łódź. He was the brother of the writer Marian Brandys and husband of the translator . He graduated in law f ...

, ''Nierzeczywistość'' (Unreality), 1977, *

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 ...

, ''Traktat poetycki. Traktat moralny'' (A treaty of Poetry. Moral Treaty), 1978, *

Bohumil Hrabal Bohumil Hrabal (; 28 March 1914 – 3 February 1997) was a Czech Republic, Czech writer, often named among the best Czech writers of the 20th century. Early life Hrabal was born in Židenice (suburb of Brno) on 28 March 1914, in what was then ...

, ''Zbyt głośna samotność'' (Too Loud a Solitude), 1978, * Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, ''Kurier z Warszawy'' (Courier from Warsaw), 1979, *

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled ("strongly ...

, ''Poems'', translated by Stanislaw Baranczak, 1979, *

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gda ...

, ''

The Tin Drum ''The Tin Drum'' (, ) is a 1959 novel by Günter Grass, the first book of his Danzig Trilogy. It was adapted into a 1979 film, which won both the 1979 Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980. To "beat a ti ...

'', 1979, *

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalism, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937, ...

'' Trans-Atlantyk'', 1979, *

Jerzy Andrzejewski Jerzy Andrzejewski (; 19 August 1909 – 19 April 1983) was a prolific Polish writer. His works confront controversial moral issues such as betrayal, the Jews and Auschwitz in the wartime. His novels, ''Ashes and Diamonds'' (about the immediate ...

, ''Miazga'', 1979, * Venedikt Yerofeyev, '' Moscow-Petushki'', 1979, *

''Mała apokalipsa'' (A Minor Apocalypse), 1979, *

Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler (, ; ; ; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest, and was educated in Austria, apart from his early school years. In 1931, Koestler j ...

, ''

Darkness at Noon ''Darkness at Noon'' (, ) is a novel by Austrian-Hungarian-born novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best known work, it is the tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is arrested, imprisoned, and tried for treason against the ...

'', 1981, * Tadeusz Korzeniewski ''W Polsce'' (In Poland), 1981, *

Karl Jaspers Karl Theodor Jaspers (; ; 23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy. His 1913 work ''General Psychopathology'' influenced many ...

, ''The Question of German Guilt'', 1982 (first book published during the

Martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The Polish United Workers' Party, government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an a ...

), * Marek Nowakowski, ''Raport o stanie wojennym'' (Report on the Martial Law), 1982, * Stanisław Rembek, ''W polu'' (In the Field), 1982, *

Jan Józef Lipski Jan Józef Lipski (26 May 1926 in Warsaw – 10 September 1991 in Kraków) was a Polish critic, literature historian, politician and freemason. As a soldier of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), he fought in the Warsaw Uprising. Editor of collected w ...

''KOR'', 1984, *

Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz (''Jarosław Marek Szulc''; 13 July 1935 – 3 February 2022) was a Polish poet, essayist, dramatist, translator and literary critic. He was the recipient of the 2003 Nike Award, Poland's most important literary prize. ...

, ''Rozmowy polskie latem 1983'' (Polish Conversations in the Summer of 1983), 1984, *

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

, '' Mother Night'', 1984, *

Viktor Suvorov Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (; ; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov (), is a former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World War II, the GRU and the Soviet Army, as well as fictional books ...

, ''The Liberators'', 1984, *

Yevgeny Zamyatin Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin ( rus, Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ zɐˈmʲætʲɪn; – 10 March 1937), sometimes anglicized as Eugene Zamyatin, was a Russian author of science fictio ...

, ''We'', 1985, *

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century. Her work ...

, ''

The Origins of Totalitarianism ''The Origins of Totalitarianism'', published in 1951, was Hannah Arendt's first major work, where she describes and analyzes Nazism and Stalinism as the major totalitarian political movements of the first half of the 20th century. History '' ...

'', 1988.

Activists

In August 1980, NOWA was headed by Konrad Bieliński, Grzegorz Boguta, and Mirosław Chojecki. They were supported by

Adam Michnik Adam Michnik (; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–1989), dissident, Intellectual#Public intellectual, public intellectual, as well as co-founder and editor-in-chief of the P ...

Ewa Milewicz Ewa Milewicz (born in 1948) is a Polish print journalist currently working for Gazeta Wyborcza. Milewicz holds a degree in Law from the University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in ...

, Anatol Lawina, Jan Narożniak, and Ryszard Knauff. Printing and distribution were controlled by Marek Chimiak, Mieczysław Grudziński, and Piotr Szwajcer. After creation of the

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

trade union in August 1980, NOWA was headed by Grzegorz Boguta, Marek Borowik, and Marek Chimiak. In December 1981 (see

), NOWA was briefly managed by Paweł Bąkowski, as the previous managers were imprisoned by the Communist government. In autumn 1982, Boguta returned, supported by several other activists, such as Piotr Szwajcer, Przemyslaw Cieslak, Marek Borowik, Jan Walc, Marek Chimiak, Jan Kofman, Andrzej Paczkowski, Miroslaw Kowalski, Marek Kubin, Andrzej Werner, and Adam Widmanski.

References

NOWA at Encyclopedia of Solidarity

External links

Webpage of SuperNowa
{{Authority control Anti-communist organisations in Poland Communism in Poland Polish dissident organisations Publishing in Poland Polish literature

Beginning

Activity

Selected publications

Activists

See also

References

External links