Dominika Słowik

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Dominika Słowik
Born (1988-09-10) 10 September 1988 (age 35)
Jaworzno, Poland
OccupationFiction writer
CitizenshipPoland
Notable worksZimowla

Dominika Słowik (born 1988) is a Polish writer. Her novel Zimowla brought her the Paszport Polityki 2019 award.

Early life and education[edit]

Dominika Słowik was born on 10 September[1] 1988, in Jaworzno,[2][3] where she completed her primary and secondary education.[1] She then studied Spanish philology at the College of Interdisciplinary Individual Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences of Jagiellonian University.[1]

Career[edit]

Słowik debuted in 2015 with a novel Atlas: Doppelganger.[2][4] The book tells the story of a childhood set during the post-1989 transformation era Poland,[5] where the crumbling apartment blocks form a mythical literary scenery.[3] Literary critic Justyna Sobolewska wrote in a review that the opening of the novel contained "one of the best depictions of apartment blocks ever written".[6] Atlas: Doppelganger was shortlisted for the Gdynia Literary Prize.[2]

In 2019, Słowik published her second novel, Zimowla: a multilayered coming-of-age story set in a fictitious, small provincial Polish town. Its narrative core is set in 2005, but the history of various characters and the region itself is key to the story which reflects the complex past of Poland. Słowik borrows from a variety of literary conventions, using elements of young adult adventure novels, thrillers, grotesque and magic realism to give nuance to her storytelling.[5] She worked on the book, in part, during a Prague City of Literature creative residency program.[4] The novel brought Słowik the Paszport Polityki award and the Odkrycie roku ("breakthrough of the year") prize awarded by Onet.pl.[3] Zimowla was also named the Kraków Book of the Month in January 2020.[1]

In 2021, Słowik published her first collection of short stories, Samosiejki, characterized by the elements of the unknown or bizarre interwoven into otherwise common settings.[7] In 2023, an excerpt of the collection appeared in English translation by Jess Jensen Mitchell in Two Lines Journal.[8]

Słowik lives in Kraków.[2][9]

Works[edit]

Novels[edit]

  • Atlas: Doppelganger, 2015
  • Zimowla, Kraków 2019[5]

Short stories[edit]

  • Sanatorium, short story for O_KA literary project, 2016[9]
  • Samosiejki, short story collection, 2021[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Zielonka-Hałczyńska, Anna (2020-01-24). "Dominika Słowik z Paszportem "Polityki"". MCKiS Jaworzno (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  2. ^ a b c d "Dominika Słowik". Instytut Książki (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  3. ^ a b c "Literatura: Dominika Słowik laureatką Paszportów POLITYKI". Polityka (in Polish). 2020-01-14. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  4. ^ a b "Dominika Słowik". Praha mesto literatury. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  5. ^ a b c Policht, Piotr. "Dominika Słowik, "Zimowla"". Culture.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  6. ^ Szmidt, Olga (2020). "Fear of unjust memory or desire for secure identity? Remembering the era of 1989 transition in contemporary Polish novel". In Kaukiainen, Kaisa; Kurikka, Kaisa; Mäkelä, Hanna; Nykänen, Elise; Nyqvist, Sanna; Raipola, Juha; Riippa, Anne; Samola, Hanna (eds.). Narratives of fear and safety. Tampere University Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-952-359-015-1.
  7. ^ a b Ochędowska, Monika (October 2021). "Czarne skrzynki / Literatura / dwutygodnik.com". Dwutygodnik (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  8. ^ ""Blizzard" by Dominika Slowik | Two Lines Journal".
  9. ^ a b Słowik, Dominika (2016). Sanatorium. Kraków: Stowarzyszenie Festiwal Kultury Żydowskiej. ISBN 978-83-938285-7-9. OCLC 995624273.