Author's meeting with Michał Witkowski

Already on October 14, 2026, the publication Znak Literanova will publish the novel “Substantia”.

Witkowski returns to fiction — he does so with impetuosity and literary audacity. Like the Marquis de Merteuil, he intrigues, seduces the reader and invites him to a court full of masks, rituals and violence.

In 1770, there is an unhealthy atmosphere in the Kristinopolski Palace — it is closer to shameless castles than to aristocratic manors. Among this sodomy and gomorah, Anna Potocka — the wife of the richest tycoon and the greatest devotee in the castle — deftly pulls the strings. The worst thugs dance when he plays them, and for this danse macabre all those who have a stake with Potocki are invited. So they pack as if there is no tomorrow, and behind the scenes Anna plans for whom to spend her dull son, how to punish promiscuous manors and how to recover the stolen diamond.

In this world, revenge, greed and passions rule. Manners are breaking down, the Republic is sinking, terror is coming, but everyone continues to play their roles. The national situation is getting complicated and more and more like the last dance on the Titanic. And in the shadow of great events, the tragedy of a girl, in love with the heir of Potocki, unfolds.

This is a moment of solstice strangely close to our times. Nothing is what it seems. The author crosses the boundaries of genres and, in the footsteps of Gombrowicz, undertakes a perverse game with the romantic tradition. And he does it in an extremely ironic way. Something in the shape of a national opera à rebours is being created.

The meeting will be moderated by Violetta Nowakowska.