Twenty books representing various literary genres were on the list of nominees for the 28th edition of the Nike Literary Award, awarded for the best book of the year. The finalists will be announced in early September.
“Gazeta Wyborcza” presented the nominations for this year's Nike award on Friday. The nominees represent various literary genres, but poetry was particularly appreciated. The nominations included four volumes of poetry – “Wiwisekcja” by Genowefa Jakubowska-Fijałkowska (Mikołowski Institute Publishing House, Mikołów), “Wilki” by Marzanna Bogumiła Kielar (Znak Publishing House, Kraków), “Raptularz” by Urszula Kozioł (PIW Publishing House, Warsaw) and “Wariacje Geldbergowskie” by Ewa Lipska (Wydawnictwo Literackie Publishing House, Kraków).
Nike Award – nominated books
The nominations include three novels – “Łakome” by Małgorzata Lebda (Wyd. Znak, Kraków), “Toń” by Ishbel Szatrawska (Wyd. Cyranka, Warsaw) and “Reneta” by Barbara Klicka, as well as three historical essays – “On the Left Side of the Room” by Natalia Judzińska (Wyd. Krytyka Polityczna, Warsaw), “Chłopki. Opowieść o nasze babkach” by Joanna Kuciel-Frydryszak (Wyd. Marginesy, Warsaw), and “Tu jest Grecia. Antik na nasze czasu” by Marek Węcowski (Wyd. Iskry).
The nominees also included a collection of conversations (Mikołaj Grynberg “Jesus died in Poland”, published by Agora, Warsaw), columns (Dorota Masłowska “I have the same thing as you”, published by Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków) and essays (Renata Lis “Moja beloved and me”, Publisher: Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków; Piotr Paziński “Przebierańcy w nicości”, Publisher: Nisza, Warsaw).
Nominations were also given to the reportages “Ireland rises from its knees” by Marta Abramowicz (Krytyka Polityczna Publishing House, Warsaw) and “Na Szewskiej. Sprawa Stanisława Pyjasa” by Cezary Łazarewicz (Czytelnik Publishing House, Warsaw), biographies – “Babel. Człowiek bez fate” by Aleksander Kaczorowski (Czarne Publishing House, Wołowiec), “Mrożek. Biografia” by Anna Nasiłowska (Wydawnictwo Literackie Publishing House, Cracow) and the autobiography “Faith. Autobiografia” by Michał Witkowski (Znak Publishing House). “Elementaże (1&2)” by Andrzej Sosnowski (Tymoteusz Karpowicz Foundation for Culture and Education, Wrocław) also have a chance to win the award.
Nike Award – when will we know the finalists
The Nike Literary Award for the best book of the year has been granted since 1997. Its aim is to promote Polish contemporary literature, with particular emphasis on novels. The jury of this year's edition of the award includes: Witold Bereś, Marek Beylin, Justyna Jaworska, Maria Anna Potocka, Radosław Romaniuk, Katarzyna Sawicka-Mierzyńska, Krzysztof Siwczyk (chairman of the jury), Maria Topczewska, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz.
The seven finalists will be presented in early September in “Wyborcza”. The winner will be announced on the first Sunday in October.
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Nike Award – winners
In 2023, Nike received Zyta Rudzka for the novel “He who laughs, who has teeth”. In the readers' poll of “Wyborcza” Grzegorz Piątek won, author of the historical reportage “Gdynia obiecana. Miasto, modernizm, modernizacja 1920-1939”. Both books were published by WAB publishing house
Zyta RudzkaTVN24 BiS
Monika Olejnik and Grzegorz PiątekTVN24
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Main photo source: Leszek Szymański/PAP