<>Cossack gets off the horse - Ukraine today

The ICC cordially invites the audience to the meeting The Cossack gets off the horse – Ukraine today, which will be held as part of the 7th Zygmunt Haupt Festival in Gorlice. The meeting with the participation of Iwona Boruszkowska, Katarzyna Kotyńska, Paweł Smoleński and Ziemowit Szczerek will be hosted by Paulina Małochleb.

The Polish reflection about Ukraine usually focuses on its western part, especially Lviv. This translates into limited awareness of what is truly vital to Ukraine today, how it is changing, and what role its culture plays in the process of social change. All the guests in this meeting write about the stereotypes that dominate our imagination in their books, at the same time trying to describe the course of Ukrainian modernisation as well as the themes that we might have missed.

The transformation of the title of the book by Ryszard Kapuściński, which is the starting point for the meeting, takes us to one of the protagonists of the Polish and Ukrainian imagination: the Cossack. This figure, however, is pictured and imagined in a radically different way by each of the two nations. And it is precisely the nations and stereotypes that will be the subject of the debate.

The 7th Zygmunt Haupt Festival will be held on 22–26 September 2021. The Festival events take place at the Gorlice Cultural Centre (ul. Michalusa 4) in accordance with the applicable sanitary restrictions. Admission to all events is free. The festival events will be broadcast online to allow the audience members who will not reach Gorlice to participate. The Cossack gets off the horse - Ukraine today will be held on Saturday, September 25 at 8 pm. The meeting is part of the programme of related events organised on the occasion of the exhibition “Ukraine. A different angle on neighbourhood”, on show at the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, at Rynek Główny 25.
Dr. Iwona Boruszkowska – doctor of literary studies, translator of Ukrainian literature, literary theorist and critic. A graduate of Polish philology and cultural studies (specialising in Ukrainian studies), she also studied Ukrainian philology. Assistant at the Department of Literary Theory at the Faculty of Polish Studies of the Jagiellonian University. Scholarship holder of the National Science Centre (Etiuda programme) and winner of the Polityka Scientific Award in the field of humanities in 2017. Member of The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (since 2017) and the Association of Literary Translators.

Dr. Katarzyna Kotyńska – Ukrainian studies scholar, literary scholar, associated with the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Department of Ukrainian Studies at the Jagiellonian University, translator of Ukrainian and Belarusian literature. Author of the books “Eseiści o Lwowie: pamięć, sąsiedztwo, mity” and “Lwów. O odczytywaniu miasta na nowo”.

Paweł Smoleński – journalist, reporter, and writer. He collaborated with second-circulation magazines. In 1989 he became a journalist for “Gazeta Wyborcza”. Author of books on political science. Winner of the Polish-Ukrainian Reconciliation Award, which he received in 2003 for the book “Pochówek dla rezuna”. In 2018 he was nominated for the “Syrop z piołunu” for the Kazimierz Moczarski History Award.

Ziemowit Szczerek – Polish journalist, writer, and translator. He writes for magazines “Polityka” and “Nowa Europa Wschodnia” on Central and Eastern European issues. Winner of the Polityka Passport for 2013 in the literature category for the book “Przyjdzie Mordor i nas zje, czyli tajna historia Słowian”. In 2016, he was nominated for the Nike Literary Award for the book “Tatuaż z tryzubem”.

Dr. Paulina Małochleb - critic, literary scholar, and lecturer. She writes for “Polityka”, “Krytyka Polityczna”, “Przekrój”. Winner of the Prime Minister's Award and fellow of the “Young Poland” scholarship of the National Centre for Culture. Author of the book “Przepisywanie historii” and the blog ksiazkinaostro.pl.


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