NEW BOOKS: “Waldkauz” by Szczepan Twardoch

“The earth trembles, darkness comes out of the people, the time of man is coming.” It's August 1920. In Upper Silesia it is boiling. Polish is mixed with German, Silesian with English and French of Allied soldiers. A desperate woman comes to the office of Wilhelm Pisulli, ex-Wachmeister of the Gliwice Criminal Police and now a private investigator of the Detektiv-Lux company. She's looking for her baby. But neither is she who he claims to be, nor is he an ordinary detective. For Pisulla has two souls, and the other, unbaptized, has never howled so loudly. Only milk and cognac can calm her down. It is because of them that a frantic voice in the form of a waldkauz, or wild boar, sets off on a subtle hunt, and then returns to the man abandoned by his family. Pisulla's son, Franz, was lost in the war, and his wife, taking the younger Karlicek, left. William is left with only Wendelin Draga, his closest childhood friend and a man of too many secrets.

“Waldkauz” is a story full of mysteries; a story of male friendship and duty to loved ones; of redemption, love and what lies in the darkness separated from our world only by a thin, semi-permeable membrane. Wilhelm Pisulla knows the speech of birds and talks to drowned people, but even he can't find his son devoured by the beast of war.

Szczepan Twardoch's novel “Waldkauz” will be released on October 14, and the meeting at the Katowice theater will be its Silesian premiere. The book will be available in hardcover and paperback, as well as in ebook and audio versions — interpreted by Dariusz Chojnacki.

The meeting will be hosted by Wojciech Śmieja.

At the meeting, it will be possible to purchase premiere copies of the book, as well as get an autograph of the author.

Szczepan Twardoch Szczepan Twardoch (born 1979) — author of a dozen novels and short story collections, including “Morfina” (2012), “Drach” (2014), “The King” (2016), “Kingdom” (2018), “Pokora” (2020), “Chołod” (2022), “Let's say Piontek” (2024) and “Null” (2025), as well as the monodrama “Taurus” (2022) and the drama “Peace” (2025) and other texts, opera librettos and scripts. His books have sold over a million copies. Honored with many awards, including the “Polityka” Passport, the Kościelski Prize, the EBRD — the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development award, the Brücke Berlin-Preis, the Silesian Literary Laurel, three times the Onet O! Shining, Nike Readers' Award, K. Kutz Award, Lem Planet Award. The rights to his novels have been sold to more than a dozen countries. Based on “The King”, a series was created for Canal+, and adaptations of “Morphina”, “Dracha” and “Pokory” went on the theatrical stage. Since the end of 2022, he has been involved in helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine; in public collections he has raised more than two and a half million zlotys so far. Purchased drones, cars and military equipment he personally delivers to the front. For his work in favor of the Ukrainian army in 2024 he was awarded the Stand with Ukraine award. He lives in Pilchowice in Upper Silesia.