Other than her name, I'm not familiar with Olga Tokarczuk (born 29 January 1962) but Wikipedia tells us that she
Has anyone read Tokarczuk here?
is one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful Polish writers of her generation, particularly noted for the hallmark mythical tone of her writing.
I've seen a couple of her books around the shops but haven't really picked them up. Here's the detail from the Polish Culture website:
She's doing a mini-tour of the UK, started at the Hay Festival and concluding on Thursday in Glasgow. So I'm heading to this event and will try and report back. What makes it interesting is that it is an event that also includes her translator, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, so should be interesting both from the point of view of writing and also translating the books.Olga Tokarczuk (born 1962) is the best-selling author of eight novels including Primeval and Other Times, House of Day, House of Night, Final Stories and Runners, which in 2009 won Poland’s top literary prize, the Nike award. She has also written two volumes of short stories, some of which have been published in English in several leading US literary journals. Her books have been translated into many languages worldwide and have also won international prizes. Notably, the English-language edition of House of Day, House of Night (Granta, 2002), was shortlisted for the IMPAC Literary Award.
With the publication in January Primeval and Other Times (by Twisted Spoon), two of Tokarczuk’s novels have now appeared in English translation. This enchanting novel chronicles the twentieth-century history of a mythical Polish village. Living at the heart of Europe in its most turbulent times, the ordinary people of Primeval suffer the misfortunes of history as well as letting their own passions shape their lives. Told in the magical tone of a fairy tale, the story combines mystery and reality in an intriguing way.
House of Day, House of Night (first published in Polish in 1998) returns to the remote Polish countryside, but in the present day. The narrator who has made her home in this place at the heart of Europe tells us of her encounters with the local people and the stories she gathers from them, building a portrait of a mysterious neighbourhood peopled by colourful characters whose seemingly simple lives reach deep into the complexities of human experience.
By contrast, instead of focusing on home as the central point for the novel, Runners is about being constantly on the move. This unconventional novel consists of shorter and longer stories, some involving outward journeys to the furthest corners of the world, and some about inward exploration of the human body. While recurrent themes such as the meaning of place and time, deformity, loss and death echo throughout, the fragmentation of the narrative is also a reflection of the travelling way of life – those who refuse to remain in one place accept that their world consists of a succession of pieces that do not necessarily have continuity or fit together in a logical way.
Tokarczuk’s latest novel to be published in Poland is Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead. Showing her versatility as a writer, here she applies an ironical touch to the crime genre. Returning to the familiar setting of the Polish countryside, she has added an amusing dose of black comedy to the conventional murder story. In this story narrated by an old woman who lives alone in a cottage with her beloved dogs, things turn nasty when a series of mysterious killings appear to have been committed by... animals.
Has anyone read Tokarczuk here?