This is an interview with Marcin Klak, about the POlish Science Fiction and Fantasy scene.
Marcin, please present yourself to our readers.
Marcin “Alqua” Klak
A fan and conrunner from Poland. He loves Science Fiction and Fantasy literature, gaming (board games and tabletop RPGs), M&A and conventions. He is currently a chairman of the SFF association in Kraków (Krakowska Sieć Fantastyki). Each year he visits multiple conventions and he tries to meet fans from all over the world. He blogs about fandom and conventions on www.FandomRover.com
Please try to make a brief introduction on the Polish SF history.
The story of the genre in Poland is quite long. The first works I was able to find were published in XVIII century (“The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom” by Ignacy Krasicki and “Wojciech Zdarzyński’s tale about his life and experiences” by Michał Dymitr Krajewski). Those were rather utopias. Later in the beginning of XX century Jerzy Żuławski published three novels forming “Lunar Trilogy”. They were definitely ahead of their times in terms of describing psychological aspects of having a lunar expedition. The next big name (and the one known to many readers around the world) is Stanisław Lem. His multiple works were translated into more than 40 languages and he is the best known Polish SF author. Many Polish writers stated (and still state) that Lem’s works had big impact on them. The next big name in the field is Janusz A. Zajdel. He started his career in the 1960s and he died in the 1985. He is best known author of the so called “Polish sociological SF” genre. The genre and many was using SF to protest against the communistic government in Poland.
Which are the most popular SF magazines and fanzins (printed and online) in Poland?
The situation of printed magazines/fanzines in Poland is not good. There is a professional magazine issued monthly – “Nowa Fantastyka”. It was established in 1982 (as “Fantastyka” at that time). Over the years the circulation decreased yet this is the only magazine that survived for so long. Many others were published for some time and then disappeared. Some of them had comebacks – example is “Fenix” which re-appeared as “Fenix Antologia” and is published as an anthology of short stories.
There are many websites and some e-magazines devoted to the genre the ones that are quite well known (or at least are well known to me) are Esensja (https://esensja.pl), Fahrenheit (https://www.fahrenheit.net.pl), Silmaris (http://silmaris.pl), Ostatnia Tawerna (https://ostatniatawerna.pl) and Popbookownik (it concentrates on broader popular culture not only on SFF) (popbookownik.pl/). I have a pleasure of writing rebiews for the last two.
Regarding the printed fanzines they are not very popular but at least two have quite long tradition – “Widok z wysokiego zamku” published by the Ubik SFF club from Białystok. The other one is “Aiglos” published by Tolkien section of Śląski Klub Fantastyki (Silesian Fantasy Club). The latter is of course concentrated on J.R.R. Tolkien and his works.
Which are the SF&F Clubs that have regular meetings?
There are many clubs/associations in Poland and I am not aware about the details of meetings in each of them. I was able to find that the following have regular meetings (at least one per month):
– Gdański Klub Fantastyki in Gdańsk
– Śląski Klub Fantastyki in Katowice
– Krakowska Sieć Fantastyki in Kraków
– Gladius – Legnickie Stowarzyszenie Fantastyki in Legnica
– Stowarzyszenie Miłośników ERpegów i Fantastyki in Łódź
– Opolski Klub Fantastyki Fenix in Opole
– Klub Fantastyki “Druga Era” in Poznań
– Cech Fantastyki „SkierCon” in Skierniewice
– Stowarzyszenie Miłośników Gier i Fantastyki „Thorn” in Toruń
– Stowarzyszenie Avangarda in Warszawa
– Zielonogórski Klub Fantastyki Ad Astra in Zielona Góra
List is sorted alphabeticlaly by the name of the city.
Which are the most important local and national SF&F associations?
The list would be somehow similar to the one above and also sorted in the same way:
– Gdański Klub Fantastyki in Gdańsk
– Śląski Klub Fantastyki in Katowice
– Lubelskie Stowarzyszenie Fantastyki „Cytadela Syriusza” in Lublin
– Klub Fantastyki “Druga Era” in Poznań
– Stowarzyszenie Avangarda in Warszawa
– Zielonogórski Klub Fantastyki Ad Astra in Zielona Góra
Which are the printing houses that publish mainly SF and Fantasy?
We have a few printing housed devoted mostly or even only to SFF. One of the oldest of them would be Mag which is well known from the two series of nicely done hardcovers: “Artefakty” (“Artifacts”) is the younger of the two and concentrates on classic SF. “Uczta Wyobraźni” (“The Feast of Imagination”) is presenting interesting/non-orthodox/surprising/valuable SFF. In general they publish translations from English.
The other popular publisher is Powergraph. They publish works by Polish authors including very popular “Opowieści z meekhańskiego pogranicza” (“Tales from the Meekhaneese border”) fantasy series. They also publish a series of children’s/teens books “Felix, Net i Nika” (“Felix, Net and Nika”). One of the books from this series is now an obligatory reading in primary school.
Among other publishing houses I need to mention:
– SuperNOWA – now known best for publishing Andrzej Sapkowski
– Fabryka Słów – became famous in early 2000s by publishing multiple Polish authors. Now they also offer translations
– Galeria Książki – they publish fantasy and are best known as the publisher of Trudi Canavan and Rick Riordan
– Drageus Publishing House
– Genius Creations
– Stalker Books
Some mainstream publishers also have SFF in their offer. Those include: Zysk, Prószyński, Rebis and more.
Which are the most popular SF&F conventions in Poland? What are their main attractions?
There are many conventions in Poland. Some of them very small while others really big. Some events are devoted to manga, some to SFF while other are multigenre. We have some cons devoted to gaming and we also have some big LARPs as well.
Definitely the biggest convention in Poland is Pyrkon held in Poznań and organized by Klub Fantastyki Druga Era. It attracted over 55 000 people last year and is really huge and crowded. It would be hard to mention all attractions. There is a huge Dealers Room, some exhibitions and many guests. Definitely compared to other cons Pyrkon has the highest number of foreign guests visiting. Pyrkon is a multigenre convention.
The oldest convention still taking place is Polcon. It is our National convention. Each year Polcon takes place in different city. The main attraction is the ceremony of Janusz A. Zajdel Award – the award for best Polish SFF. This year there will be no Polcon though and we hope that after some reworking of the rules and model it will come back next year.
Who are the main author names in today’s Polish SF&F?
Certainly Andrzej Sapkowski is still a very big name in Polish SFF. He may not be publishing a lot now but the “Witcher” series certainly earned him an important place for many years.
Anna Kańtoch is a great author. Both her novels and shorter works are amazing and she received multiple awards (five time Janusz A. Zajdel award, Jerzy Żuławski Award and also Big Caliber Award for crime novel she wrote).
Paweł Majka was nominated to Janusz A. Zajdel Award two times and he won Jerzy Żuławski award twice. He writes in different styles and subgenres.
Michał Cholewa is best known for his space opera series – “Algorytm wojny” (“Algorithm of War”). For one of the volumes he received Janusz A. Zajdel Award.
Robert M. Wegner won Janusz A. Zajdel award six times. Mainly for works from his epic fantasy series “Opowieści z Meekhańskiego pogranicza” (“Tales form the Meekhaneese border”). Twice (in 2013 and 2016) he received Zajdel Award in both categories (novel and shorter work).
Jacek Dukaj does not publish a lot now but his multiple works still keep him an important person in todays SFF fields. He won Zajdel Award six times.
Andrzej Pilipiuk is really prolific author who created multiple short stories both humoristic and serious ones. He also wrote some novels including a series for young readers.
The list above is not full and I have many more names in my mind right now but I don’t want to make this too long.
Give us some names of SF&F Polish graphic artists.
There are a few Polish illustrators whose works I really admire. I think that one of the best (and most popular) is Piotr Cieśliński (Dark Crayon: https://www.facebook.com/DarkCrayonDesign/). Covers he makes are absolutely stunning.
Other great artists is Darek Kocurek (https://www.facebook.com/DarekKocurekART/). His works were also used on book covers but he also helped with the graphics for Śląskie Dni fantastyki convention. I must also mention Dagmara Matuszak (https://www.facebook.com/dagmaramatuszak.art/) whose works I found firstly on the Robin Hobb’s books.
What makes Polish SF original?
This is a tough question. It is somehow difficult to grasp this “from inside”. Certainly we had a very interesting period in Polish SF when “Polish sociological SF” genre appeared. Those were the works created to criticize the communism. As for the more contemporary works I believe that what may be unique is the Polish perspective. We are the nation with difficult history that impacted our culture and this is quite often reflected in works of Polish authors.
Whenever I was listing important artists, clubs and events I was presenting my private opinion. For sure other fans from Poland would provide lists that are partially or even much different.
