Library Night 2026 in Książnica Podlaska

On October 16, from 17:00 to 21:00, Książnica Podlaska will open its doors for Library Night 2026.

This year's slogan is “It works” — and there is hardly a better opportunity to check out Bolesław Prus' “Doll” once again. A novel that for nearly a century and a half can not be closed either in a school bench or in an academic footnote. Wokulski, Rzecki, Izabela Łęcka — all of them are again facing the judgment of modern readers today. Romantic or Positivist? Great love or great illusion? Aristocratic grace or boudoir boredom? “Doll” today passes a real test of great literature. We're going to check it out too — in our own way.

17:00 | VERNISSAGE “ORDO NULLI” — TOMKIEL FONDA
We will start the evening with the opening of “Ordo Nulli”, the first exhibition of Tomkiel Fonda — author of paintings, texts and music. It is a project combining different media, traditional techniques and digital tools, in which image, word and sound do not illustrate each other, but create successive layers of meaning. The works grow from experience and memory as well as from imagination, grotesque, science fiction and reflections on technology, the body, religiosity and control. “Ordo Nulli” does not end in one story or one interpretation — it remains an experiment in constant motion.

17:00 | NOT ONLY IN VOKULA, A MAN LIVES — CINEMA FOR THE YOUNGEST
The youngest viewers will be invited to the film “Mu's Mom Comes Home”. A dashing cow, for whom a quiet life in the meadow is definitely not enough, decides to go out into the world. The film is intended for children aged 4—6 years and was made available thanks to the TAURON Young Horizons Film Festival and the support of the Association of Authors ZAiKS.

FROM 17:00 | RZECKI CLOSES SHOP. WE'RE PLAYING BECAUSE IT'S FRIDAY!
Our weekly board meetings return to Nerdoteka, and with them pawns, dice, strategies, betrayals, alliances and great victories sometimes achieved with one lucky roll. In addition, we will prepare a gameroom with games on consoles, VR and retro equipment. After all, if Wokulski lived today, who knows - maybe instead of another investment in trading, he would be interested in virtual reality.

FROM 17:00 | LETTER TO OUR LADY ISABELLA — OPEN CALLIGRAPHY WORKSHOPS
In the past, messages were not sent with a single click. It was necessary to sit down, dip a nib in ink and consider each word well, especially if it were to reach a person capable of turning a person's life upside down with a single glance. During the workshop you will be able to try your hand at the art of beautiful writing and join at any time of the evening.

17:00 — 21:00 | VOKULSKI DONATES DEBTS? WE DO! — LIBRARY ABOLITION
If somewhere on the home shelf lies a book that was supposed to come back “a long time ago”, October 16 will be the best time to finish the story. During the Night of Libraries, from 17:00 to 21:00 in the Main Library, abolition will be in effect. Held and slightly forgotten books will be able to be returned without consequences. Without dramatic explanations, without looks full of reproach and without having to go to Paris. Let the books go home and find more readers.

THROUGHOUT THE EVENING | BOUDOIR BOREDOM OR PERIOD DRAMA? LET'S CHECK ISABELLA AND WOKULSKI
In the General Reading Room you will be able to see the exhibition “Boredom of the boudoir: a psychoanalytic image of Izabela Łęcka vs. How a haberdashery merchant could become a decadent”. Does Miss Isabella really deserve all the bad fame she's grown up with? What exactly happened in the psyche of a man who went the way from an exile and a merchant to a financier in order to finally subordinate life to one feeling? Do you want to know? Check in the sources of Książnica Podlaska.

17:30 | “DOLL” ON THE BIG SCREEN — A TEST OF THE CLASSICS
A moment later we will move to the world of Prussia as seen through the eyes of one of the most outstanding Polish directors. We invite you to the screening of “Dolls” by Wojciech Jerzy Has from 1968. Warsaw's streets, salons, shops, money, passions, ambitions and disappointments will return in one of the most extraordinary screenings of Polish literature. The film was made available thanks to the partners supporting Library Night — National Film Archive — Audiovisual Institute and Documentary and Feature Film Studios.

19:00 | IN THE ŁĘCKIE LOUNGE AFTER DARK — “MURMURES DU SOIR”
At 19:00 it will be time for a salon evening in the best sense of the word. “Murmures du soir” — “Whispers of the Evening” is a recital dedicated to the subtle and sensual French artistic song of the 19th and 20th centuries. There will be performances by Zofia Koniuch — soprano and Magdalena Borkowska — piano, and the program will include songs by Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc and Jacques Offenbach. French charm, the music of the salons and emotions expressed more quietly than a whisper — Miss Isabella would probably not deny herself such an evening.

One evening in Książnica you will meet Prussia and virtual reality, Vokulski and board games, calligraphy and cinema, French salons and children's adventure. Can a library be a cinema, a gallery, a music room, a studio, a play place and a meeting space at the same time? It works. After nearly 140 years, can the “Doll” still provoke, tease, delight and force conversation? It works. And is it worth spending this October evening just with us? On October 16, come and see for yourself.

October 16, 2026
17:00 — 21:00
Łukasz Górnicki Podlaska Library in Białystok
Admission to all events is free.