In 2021, Zbigniew Rokita was awarded the 2021 Nike Literary Award for the book “Kajś. A Tale of Upper Silesia”. On Wednesday, September 28 at 6:00 p.m. in the Młyn restaurant, he will meet with readers from Gniezno as part of the “Polish language is always up to date” project, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
This time, the prestigious program of the National Cultural Center, “The Polish language is always up to date” was appreciated and claimed to be the third best literary project in Poland. The idea of the Public Library of the City of Gniezno is to put the literature in a slightly different view of the Polish language. During the project, the walls of the library in Gniezno will become an agora of important debates on our mother tongue, its past, and the contemporary transformations which it is constantly undergoing. Thanks to the project, amazing artists such as Dorota Masłowska, Zbigniew Rokita (author of the “Kajś” book awarded with the 2021 Nike Literary Award), poet Anna Fijałkowska, poet Tomasz Bąk, Maciej Płaza – an outstanding writer and language stylist and a fantasy translator, the well-known linguist Katarzyna Kłosińska will talk about the changes in the contemporary language and their achievements. The project will also include the creation of the podcast “I give the word”, literary and speech therapy workshops for preschool and early school children based on the original scenarios of Magdalena Smolarek-Makowska.
On Wednesday, September 28 at 6:00 p.m. in the Młyn restaurant, Zbigniew Rokita will meet with readers from Gniezno.
Rokita is a journalist and reporter from Gliwice. He published his texts – mainly on issues of Central Europe and Upper Silesia – in “Polityka”, “Tygodnik Powszechny”, “Znak” and “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”. Besides “Kajś”, he also wrote three other books, including “Królowie Strzelców. A ball in the shadow of the empire”, which was staged at the Nowy Theater in Zabrze. In 2021, he also made his debut as a theater artist – the world premiere of his play Nikaj, directed by Robert Talarczyk, took place at the Zagłębie Theater in Sosnowiec.
His book “Kajś. A Tale of Upper Silesia” was appreciated not only by the jury of the Nike Literary competition but also by fans – Rokita received the Nike Readers’ Award in 2021. According to the journalist Małgorzata Szejnert, “The author of this important book admits that he made peace with being Silesian for a long time. Now, he helps us to understand the drama of the land lying on the border of cultures and history – why Silesia is still “kajś”, and not at the center of Polish consciousness.”
In turn, Zbigniew Rokita himself writes: “For most of my life I considered Silesians as cavemen with a pickaxe and a beef roulade. I denied Silesia. In elementary school, Mrs. Chmiel played the Rota (“The Oath”) song on accordion for us, and I had no idea that the German from the song, spitting in the face, was my ancestor. I knew little about my roots. I did not believe that any history had taken place in Silesia before the war. My ancestors were like from another planet, they had some impossible names: Urban, Reinhold, Lieselotte.
Admission is free to this important literary event.