Homines Urbani 2009 Scholars

Born in 1955 as an only child in the family of a party activist in Lipova, Romania. She studied in Bucharest and has lived in Berlin since 1991. She writes novels, short stories and essays, until 1996 also in German. She weaves elements from the history of her own life into her novels. “Vaterflucht” (1998), her first book written in German, is a story about party functionary fathers.

• 1998: Vaterflucht (pierwsza powieść napisana w języku niemieckim), Volk und Welt Verlag, Berlin
• 1998: O zi fara presedinte (powieść), Editura Fundatiei culturale romane, Bucharest
• 2000: A land full of heroes (powieść), Ullstein Berlin Verlag, Berlin
• 2002: Berlin is my Paris, stories from the capital, Ullstein Berlin Verlag
• 2007: Das Lied der traurigen Mutter, Rotbuch Berlin

born 1967 in Wroclaw, studied Germanic philology at the University of Wroclaw, translator of German literature. As part of his scholarship, he worked on preparing a collection of short stories of selected works by young German authors. The core of the collection are texts by Marc Degens from his book Unsere Popmoderne and Kolja Mensing from his collection Minibar. Both of the aforementioned authors are former grantees of the joint scholarship program of Villa Decius. Tomasz Dominiak’s second project was a translation of one of the most important German postmodern novels, Eumeswil (1978) by Ernest Jünger.

Born in 1961, poet, translator, essayist, editor. He graduated from the University of Warsaw with a degree in German studies. In 1992 his volume From Day to Day was published, and in 1999 during you. He has translated Celan, Kunze, Frisch, Kafka, Schlegel, among others. His lyricism is inspired by the poetry of Celan and Ryszard Krynicki. It is characterized by an unusual, even epigrammatic linguistic economy, ambiguity? and mood density. Since 1994 he has collaborated with “Literatur? in the World.” Winner of the Barbara Sadowska Award (2001) and the Four Columns Award (2002).

• From day to day (1992)
• All the Time. Poems 1986-91 (Krakow-Warsaw, Brulion, 1992)
• During You (Krakow, a5 Publishing House, 1999)

Born in 1960 in Germany, he studied German studies, political science and philosophy at the University of Mannheim. From 1996 to 2007 he was a member of the P.E.N. – Zentrum Deutschland, and served on the jury of the Literarischer März Darmstadt competition in 1999 and 2001. Among other awards, he received the Leonce-und-Lena Prize in 1993 and 1997 and the Rhineland-Palatinate Book of the Year Award in 1994 and 2002. He was awarded scholarships from Villa Aurora in Los Angeles in 1999, Villa Massimo in 2004 and Villa Decius in 2009.

• Rauschstudie: Father + Son (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt nad Menem1994)
• Drifting Head (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt nad Menem 1997)
• Westrand (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt nad Menem 2002)
• Book FOUR (Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt nad Menem 2008)

born in 1947, Germanist, outstanding translator of German-language fiction and philosophical literature, translated nearly 80 books, including. poems, dramatic works and novels by such authors as Peter Härtling, Stefan Heym, Siegfried Lenz, Günter Grass, George Tabori, Hermann Hesse, Adolf Muschg, Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek, Franzobel, Juli Zeh and Christoph Ransmayr, as well as works by Max Weber, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger. Together with her husband, Zdzislaw Jaskola, she translated poems by Ingeborg Bachmann and Friedrich Nietzsche’s This Said Zaratustra.

Born in 1987, poet, translator, essayist, critic. Author of poetry collections Wisim misjaciw szizofrenii (Eight Months of Schizophrenia) (2007), Terrorism (Terrorism) (2008). Poems and translations by him have appeared in the magazines: “Kyivska Ru?”, “Szczo” “Wsesvit”, “Potjah-78” and almanacs: D?ynsowe pokolinnja (D?insowe pokolenie), Karpatska sa?amandra, (Karpacka salamandra) Korzo, Kurier Krivbass. Participant in many Ukrainian and European literary actions and festivals, including Berlin, Insbruk, Darmstadt, Moscow, Kiev. Winner of the Debut literary award (2007). His poems have been translated into Vigrian, German, Belarusian, Russian, English, Polish and Portuguese. He lives and works in U?horoda.

Born in 1969 in Berlin, he has been working as a freelance photographer since 1992, his photographs have been shown in many solo and group exhibitions and have also been purchased by several German museums, including the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. Jona Maron is also involved in teaching, he regularly teaches photography at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie und Gestaltung in Berlin, and has been an expert at various photography workshops, including in Florence, New York.

born in 1956, studied philosophy and German literature in Munich and Vienna, journalist, author of essays, radio dramas, scripts of broadcasts for German TV channels and song lyrics, lives in Munich; has received numerous awards for his scripts. In Krakow, he has been working on “translating the city into its words – Krakow as an alphabet of words, poj??, names used in this city – in short: Krakow as a product of its (in the broad sense of the word) literature.” The working title of this concept is: “Krakow, Alphabeth City.” Krakow was explored by him using concepts and words that exist? mainly will only exist in this city. As a result of the project, a film/play is to be created, in which Krakow will be shown against the background of its history, its phantasms and imaginations.

born 1975 – writer, also works in film and television production, co-manages the Moma Film Foundation. Her prose has been published in “Ha!art” and “Lamp”, among others. She lives in Cracow. She received a scholarship from the “Homines Urbani” program at Villa Decius in October 2009.

born 1979 in Germany – writer, worked for the Leipzig magazine “EDIT Papier für neue Texte”, runs the summer cafe ZierlichManierlich in Leipzig, author of the novel “Hintergrundwissen eines Klavierstimmers” (2007), set in 19th century Krakow. Participant of literary residency fellowships in Germany (Schriftstellerhaus Stuttgart 2008; Literarisches Colloquium Berlin 2007). Finalist of Open Mike in Berlin, she has published in many magazines and anthologies, and is a regular contributor to the websites www.poetenladen.de and www.der-goldene-fisch.de. Scholarship holder of Villa Decius in 2009.

Born in 1986, she is a writer, studies film studies at Jagiellonian University and is a student at the Krakow School of Film and Audiovisual Communication. She made her debut as a writer at the age of sixteen in “Ha!art”. Her short stories have also appeared in “Lamp”, “Zoop”, “Undergrunta” and “Borussia”. She has been a regular contributor to “Perspectives” since 2004, and has written articles on education and interviews. On her eighteenth birthday, she appeared on Kazimiera Szczuka’s program “Issue II Revised.” She received a scholarship from the Jolanta and Aleksander Kwasniewski Fund for Assistance to Young Talents. Scholarship holder of the “Homines Urbani” program of Villa Decius in Krakow in September 2009.

• Czkawka (Olsztyn, Owocarnia, 2004)
• Zaplecze (Warsaw, W.A.B., 2009)

Born in 1971 in Germany. Translator, editor, coordinator of translation and literary projects, graduate of Slavic Studies at the Free University of Berlin and Comparative Central European Studies at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder. He translates Polish contemporary literature (including works by Pawel Sala, Malgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk, Magda Fertacz, Inga Iwasiów, Slawomir Shute, Mariusz Sieniewicz). Recipient of a scholarship from Villa Decius in 2009. He lives in Warsaw.

Born in 1960, Ukrainian writer, poet and essayist. She earned a doctorate in philosophy from Kiev University. She has taught Ukrainian philology at universities in the United States. She lives permanently in Kiev. Her greatest fame came with her novel Field Research on Ukrainian Sex, published in 1996 and translated into Hungarian, Czech, German, French and in 2003 into Polish. In March 2006, her Field Research on Ukrainian Sex had its stage premiere at Warsaw’s Polonia (Krystyna Janda’s) theater. The monodrama, written and directed by Małgorzata Szumowska, starred Katarzyna Figura. A collection of short stories Sister, Sister (2007) was also published in Poland.

born in 1983, writer and journalist, graduated in journalism from Jagiellonian University. He collaborates with Lamp? and Machin? among others, and is a regular columnist for Exklusiva. Every week he writes a regular column on the anomalies of Polish pop culture for the Journal, under the title “15 minutes of fame.”

born in 1971 in Cologne, studied Germanic studies, linguistics and sociology, and wrote her doctoral thesis on Dürrenmatt and Kierkegaard. She is currently working at the University of Fribourg. Annette Mingels is a writer and journalist, living in Zurich. In March of this year, the writer stayed in Krakow at Villa Decius on a HALMA scholarship, funded by the Swiss Foundation for Culture Pro Helvetia. To date, the German publishing house DuMont has published her two novels, “Die Liebe der Matrosen” (2006) and “Der Aufrechte Gang” (2007), as well as an award-winning volume of short stories, “Romantiker. Geschichten von der Liebe” (2007), in which he passionately and seductively tells the story of love and its consequences. The German press particularly praised the author for her “extraordinary ability to build atmosphere and create her characters against a colorful background.”

born in 1976, Czech playwright and director, author of, among other plays, Wittgenstein in Kladne, which will premiere on February 6, 2010, at Prague’s alternative theater Alfred ve dvo?e. Ladislav Cumba, the creator of the project’s concept and author of the script, continued his research in Krakow on the life history of Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, and the fate of his entire family. The scholarship was funded by the Prague Institute of Arts and Theater.