Andrzej Sapkowski

Author profile

born

in Łódź, Poland

June 21, 1948

gender

male

website

http://www.sapkowski.pl/

genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Historical Fiction

About this author

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Andrzej Sapkowski, born June 21, 1948 in Łódź, is a Polish fantasy writer. Sapkowski studied economics, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. His first short story, The Witcher (Wiedźmin), was published in Fantastyka, Poland's leading fantasy literary magazine, in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of The Witcher, comprising three collections of short stories and five novels. This cycle and his many other works have made him one of the best-known fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s.

The main character of The Witcher (alternative translation: The Hexer) is Geralt, a mutant assassin wh...more Andrzej Sapkowski, born June 21, 1948 in Łódź, is a Polish fantasy writer. Sapkowski studied economics, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. His first short story, The Witcher (Wiedźmin), was published in Fantastyka, Poland's leading fantasy literary magazine, in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of The Witcher, comprising three collections of short stories and five novels. This cycle and his many other works have made him one of the best-known fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s.

The main character of The Witcher (alternative translation: The Hexer) is Geralt, a mutant assassin who has been trained since childhood to hunt down and destroy monsters. Geralt exists in an ambiguous moral universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. At the same time cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe. The world in which these adventures take place is heavily influenced by Slavic mythology.

Sapkowski has won five Zajdel Awards, including three for short stories "Mniejsze zło" (Lesser Evil) (1990), "Miecz przeznaczenia" (Sword of Destiny) (1992) and "W leju po bombie" (In a Bomb Crater) (1993), and two for the novels "Krew elfów" (Blood of Elves) (1994) and "Narrenturm" (2002). He also won the Spanish Ignotus Award, best anthology, for The Last Wish in 2003, and for "Muzykanci" (The Musicians), best foreign short story, same year.

In 1997, Sapkowski won the prestigious Polityka's Passport award, which is awarded annually to artists who have strong prospects for international success.

In 2001, a Television Series based on the Witcher cycle was released in Poland and internationally, entitled Wiedźmin (The Hexer). A film by the same title was compiled from excerpts of the television series but both have been critical and box office failures.

Sapkowski's books have been translated into Czech, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, French, Ukrainian, and Portuguese. An English translation of The Last Wish short story collection was published by Gollancz in 2007.

The Polish game publisher, CD Projekt, created a role-playing PC game based on this universe, called The Witcher, which was released in October 2007. There is also a mobile version of the game which has been created by Breakpoint Games and is being published by Hands-On Mobile in Western Europe,Latin America and Asia Pacific.

The English translation of Sapkowski's novel Blood of Elves won the David Gemmell Legends Award in 2009.(less)

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Andrzej Sapkowski's Books

Average rating: 4.21 · 39,683 ratings · 824 reviews · 38 distinct works · Similar authors

	The Last Wish 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 8,534 ratings — published 1993 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Krew elfów 4.26 of 5 stars 4.26 avg rating — 5,523 ratings — published 1994 — 36 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Miecz przeznaczenia 4.43 of 5 stars 4.43 avg rating — 4,042 ratings — published 1992 — 26 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Czas Pogardy 4.41 of 5 stars 4.41 avg rating — 3,919 ratings — published 1995 — 29 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chrzest ognia 4.4 of 5 stars 4.40 avg rating — 3,617 ratings — published 1996 — 22 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wieża jaskółki 4.34 of 5 stars 4.34 avg rating — 3,356 ratings — published 1997 — 17 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pani Jeziora 4.25 of 5 stars 4.25 avg rating — 3,094 ratings — published 1999 — 13 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Narrenturm (Trylogia husycka, #1) 3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 1,752 ratings — published 2002 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna (Saga o Wiedźminie, #SpinOff) 3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 1,529 ratings — published 2000 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Boży bojownicy (Trylogia husycka, #2) 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 1,243 ratings — published 2004 — 8 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Andrzej Sapkowski…

Series by Andrzej Sapkowski

Saga o Wiedźminie (10 books)
by Andrzej Sapkowski
4.273067074785884 of 5 stars 4.27 avg rating — 33,977 ratings

Trylogia husycka (3 books)
by Andrzej Sapkowski
3.9498217014773305 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 3,926 ratings

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Quotes by Andrzej Sapkowski

“People," Geralt turned his head, "like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish

tags: life, monster, the-last-wish, witcher

78 people liked it

“Świat się zmienia, słońce zachodzi, a wódka się kończy.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish

tags: humor, life, world

26 people liked it

“A ja myślę, że całe zło tego świata bierze się z myślenia. Zwłaszcza w wykonaniu ludzi całkiem ku temu nie mających predyspozycji. ”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, Narrenturm

tags: evil, human, thought

21 people liked it

See all Andrzej Sapkowski's quotes »

Polls

DECEMBER FANTASY: This first round poll decides which 2 books move on to the run-off poll for our December Fantasy Book of the Month

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

19 votes, 28.4%

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

15 votes, 22.4%

Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

14 votes, 20.9%

Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy

7 votes, 10.4%

The Native Star by M.K. Hobson

4 votes, 6.0%

The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia A. McKillip

3 votes, 4.5%

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

3 votes, 4.5%

The Third Bear by Jeff VanderMeer

1 vote, 1.5%

Shadowbred by Paul S. Kemp

1 vote, 1.5%

67 total votes

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