“Camus Island” — meeting with Marek Bieńczyk

“Camus Island” — meeting with Marek Bieńczyk

There are no more deserts. There are no more islands. And yet we feel the need for them. To understand the world, one must sometimes turn away from it; to serve people better, to stay away from them for a moment. But where to find the solitude necessary for strength, a long breath to focus the mind and measure courage? *

Albert Camus, one of the youngest winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature, a writer whose novels and essays — despite the passage of time — are read, commented on and inspire new generations of writers.

As part of the floating festival “Camus Island”, we invite readers to read — again, in depth or the first, initiatory — works by the French Nobel laureate Albert Camus. The State Publishing Institute once again invites the reading community: after the festivals dedicated to the works of the Italian Italo Calvin and the Argentine Jorge Luis Borges, it is time for the Algerian-born Frenchman, writer, philosopher, playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. We invite you to an interview with the author of the new translation of “Alien” Marek Bieńczyk, prose writer, essayist, literary historian and translator of French literature, conducted by Anna Karczewska.

The partner of the festival is the Polish Association of Albert Camus.

The author of the visual identification is Łukasz Piskorek.

*Citation source: A. Camus, “The Minotaur or Popas in Oran”, [in:] the same, “Weddings. Summer,” the crowd. M. Leśniewska, Kraków: Literary Publishing House, 1981

Visitor:

Marek Bieńczyk — prose writer, essayist, literary historian, translator of French literature (Albert Camus, Milan Kundera, Emile Cioran, Roland Barthes, Marcel Proust and others). He has published more than a dozen books, among them novels (“Terminal”, “Tworki”), books combining essay and prose (among others “Melancholia. On Those Who Will Never Find Loss”, “Transparency”, “Container”), collections of essays (including “Dűrer's Eyes”, “Olga's Apple, David's Feet”), books for children and adults (including “The Prince in the Pastry Shop”) and wine chronicles. For the novel “Tworki” he received the Polityka Passport and the Reymont Prize (2000), for the collection of essays “The Book of the Face” the Nike Prize, for the book “Transparency” the Andrzej Siemek Prize (2008); in 2023 he received the Julian Tuwim Prize for Lifetime Achievement, and in 2025 the Warsaw Creator Award. His latest publication “Rondo Wiatraczna” (2025) was recognized by the editorial board of “Nowe Książek” as the book of the year.

Leading

Anna Karczewska — promoter and apologist of reading. He hosts an author's program about books “Albo poczytam” on Radio Kampus, teaches at the Faculty of Journalism, Information and Bibliology at the University of Warsaw. She graduated in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Warsaw. Every day he works at the State Publishing Institute, lives in Warsaw.

Co-organizer

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