Wiesław Myśliwski ( Polish pronunciation : ; born 25 March 1932 in Dwikozy, near Sandomierz) is a Polish novelist. He is a two-time recipient of the Nike Award, the most important literary prize for Polish literature.

Life and work

He was born to a middle class family and raised in Ćmielów, where his father had participated in the Polish-Soviet War and became a local official after being demobilized. In her youth, his mother was an active member of Związek Młodzieży Wiejskiej, a rural young person's organization founded by Ignacy Solarz. After the war, he attended secondary schools in Sandomierz; graduating in 1951. He then studied philology at the Catholic University of Lublin, taking his degree in 1956. From then until 1976, he worked on the editorial staff at the Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza (People's Publishing Cooperative). From 1976 to 1999, he was Editor-in-chief of the cultural quarterly Regiony, and later contributed to the literary bi-weekly Sycyna (magazine). Since 1997, he has chaired the jury for the Aleksander Patkowski prize. He was a member of the Polish Writers' Union from 1971 to 1983.

Works

In his novels and plays Myśliwski concentrates on life in the Polish countryside. He is a two-time winner of the Nike Award (Polish equivalent of the Booker Prize) for Horizon (1996) and A Treatise on Shelling Beans (2006). To date, only Myśliwski and Olga Tokarczuk have won the award twice. His first novel translated into English was The Palace, rendered by Ursula Phillips. Bill Johnston's English translation of Kamień na kamieniu, published by Archipelago Books as Stone Upon Stone, won the 2012 Best Translated Book Award.

Works

Novels

Dramas

Essays and interviews

Selected awards and honors