Jacek Dehnel

Jacek Dehnel, born in 1980, is a poet, novelist and translator. In 2005 he was one of the youngest winners of the Kościelski Prize for promising new writers. He has published five volumes of poetry and nine of prose. His first novel, Lala, tells the story of his grandmother’s life. His second, Saturn, is based on the life of Francisco Goya, and depicts his painful relationship with his son. His third, Mother Makryna, tells the true story of a nineteenth-century fraudster who claimed to be an oppressed Catholic nun. His most recent novel, Krivoklat is the monologue of a lunatic compelled to destroy great works of art.

Several of Dehnel’s books have been translated into foreign languages. Available in English are the novel Saturn (Dedalus, 2012) and Six Polish Poets, an anthology which he edited for Arc (2009). In 2017 two more will be published in English: Aperture, a poetry collection translated by Karen Kovacik (Zephyr Press), and the novel Lala, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Oneworld Publications). 

With Piotr Tarczyński he is co-author of two crime novels set in turn-of-the-century Krakow, whose crime-solving heroine is a bored professor’s wife and first-class busybody. 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Krivoklat (Znak, 2016)

Dziennik roku chrystusowego (GW Foksal/W.A.B., 2015)

Matka Makryna (GW Foksal/W.A.B., 2014)

Języki obce (Biuro Literackie, 2013)

Saturn: Czarne obrazy z życia mężczyzn z rodziny Goya, (W.A.B., 2011)

Ekran kontrolny (Biuro Literackie, 2009)

Balzakiana (W.A.B., 2008)

Lala (W.A.B., 2006)

Żywoty równoległe (Wydawnictwo Zielona Sowa, 2004)

ENGLISH EDITIONS:

Saturn, trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Dedalus Books, 2013)

Six Polish Poets (Arc Publications, 2009)

AWARDS:

2007 – Paszport Polityki

2005 – Kościelski Award