SUMMER READING
Recent books in English translation from Polish

The summer seems to be a time when many cultural institutions slow down. Theaters are in summer rep; film festivals are being assembled for the fall as the summer blockbusters wash over us; musicians are on the road; and the museums are getting ready for the next season's openings. But for those of us who like to lounge on the beach with a good book, this is the season we've been waiting for! Whether your interests tend toward literary fiction, history, biography and memoir, crime novels, travel writing, or poetry, there are new books by Polish authors available in outstanding English translations to fill the long days of summer.

Just recently, the Polish Cultural Institute New York joined forces with the Polish Book Institute in Krakow to promote books in English translation by Polish authors to booksellers and librarians at BookExpo America, the largest publishing trade show in the US. Crime novelist Marek Krajewski read from his pre-war Breslau noir series at bookstores around New York, and he participated in a panel discussion about the relationship between the editor, the translator, and the author in publishing international literature in the United States. You can follow us on Facebook or Twitter for a link to a transcript of that conversation, which we will be posting next week, along with other news about Polish culture as the summer progresses and updates about all our events throughout the year.

If you are planning to attend the Polish session of the European Book Club in New York at the Mid-Manhattan Library the evening of September 10, you can get a head start by reading Andrzej Stasiuk's On the Road to Babadag: Travels in the Other Europe, which will be on the table for discussion. Registration for the session will open by early August..

Recommended Books for 2013