Guest of the ilb 2001
Olga Tocarczuk was born in Sulechòw near Zielona
Góra in 1962. She completed Psychology Studies at the University
of Warsaw in 1985. During this time she worked in a theraphy
centre for maladjusted children and in a psychiatric clinic in
Drewnica. She went on to work as a psychologist in Wroclaw and
Walbrzych. In 1993 Tocarczuk published her first novel, 'Podróz
ludzi ksiegi' (German: Die Reise der Buchmenschen), for which she
received a prize from the Society of Polish Book Publishers acclaiming
her as the best new prose writer of 1992 and 1993. By employing
the distinctive narrative technique which had originally attracted the
critics' attention, the author delved into and examined metaphysical
issues. Her second novel, 'E.E.', was published in 1995 and a
year later was followed by 'Prawiek I inne czasy' (German: Ur und
andere Zeiten). It was this mythical fairytale account of life in
a fictitious town in Eastern Poland that drew attention to her
internationally. Her books have been widely acclaimed both by the
critics and the public at large. In May 1998 the French edition
of 'Ur und andere Zeiten' was nominated for the Prix du Meilleur Livre
Etranger. Her works have been translated into German, Danish,
Dutch, Czech and Italian as well. "Where contemporary literature
generally lapses into trivial nothings or into (post-modern) reflective
anger", Ilma Rakusa wrote in reviewing 'Ur und andere
Zeiten', "Tokarczuk dares to employ the timeless mode of the fairytale.
[...] As if in a dream, her metaphysical animal figures brave life’s
perils, both innocent and guilty at the same time."
Tokarczuk is considered an important chronicler of the Polish-German
border regions. "Ostatnei historie" (2004; t: Last stories) consists of
three stories of lonesome women who represents three generations of the
border regions. On their search for identity, the protagonists meet in
a skillfull connection of all three stories. Her latest works, among
them "Anna in w grobowcach swiata" (2006; t: Anna in the catacombs)
about the moon godess Inanna, are also written in her mythical and
fairytale-like writing style.
Olga Tocarczuk has lived in a small village in the Sudetenland not
far from Nowa Ruda since 1998. Here she runs her own company,
'Ruta', which has published her work with great success.
© international literature festival berlin
Olga Tokarczuk online: www.tokarczuk.wydawnictwoliterackie.pl | 
