Six Polish Poets

New Voices from Europe and Beyond #5

by Jacek Dehnel

The poets in this anthology - Jacek Dehnel, Agnieszka Kuciak, Anna Piwkowska, Tomasz Różycki, Dariusz Suska and Maciej Woźniak - belong to a generation whose work stands in stark contrast to the highly individualist writing unleashed by the removal of censorship after the fall of communism, writing with an aesthetic of stylistic brutality personified by the anarchic artist-oustider, writing which rejected what had gone before. The poets presented in this anthology, however, take a longer view of their cultural past, re-examining and experimenting with traditional poetic forms, themes and cultural references in a refined, witty dialogue with the reader.

Genres: Poetry

172 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Jacek Dehnel (born May 1, 1980) in Gdańsk, Poland) is a Polish poet, writer, translator and painter. Dehnel studied at Warsaw University in the MISH College (Interfacultative Individual Humanistic Studies) and graduated from the Polish Language and Literature department. Dehnel is openly gay and currently lives in Berlin, Germany.

His first collection of poems was the last book recommended by Polish Nobel Prize Laureate, Czesław Miłosz.

Dehnel has published his poems in various literary magazines, including Kwartalnik Artystyczny, Studium, Przegląd Artystyczno-Literacki, Topos, Tytuł, Undergrunt. He works also for an internet literary portal Nieszuflada.

Dehnel has translated poetry of such poets as Osip Mandelshtam, W. H. Auden, Mary Oliver - unpublished, and Philip Larkin, George Szirtes - published. He has also rendered in Polish lyrics for songs by Ástor Piazzolla.

He has been awarded literary prizes that include the Kościelski Award in 2005 and the Paszport Polityki in 2007.