Polish Nobelist to set up foundation for writers
Polish literature Nobelist Olga Tokarczuk plans to open a foundation to aid authors and translators of literature. The foundation will be located in Wroclaw, southwest Poland.
Tokarczuk, who announced her plan at a Monday press conference in Wroclaw, said the foundation will offer scholarships for writers and translators and educational programmes on literature, and will also function as an international contact and debate platform.
The foundation will be housed in a villa once owned by renowned Polish poet Tymoteusz Karpowicz (1921-2005).
Olga Tokarczuk, a Polish novelist, poet and essayist, is the 15th woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. She also holds the 2018 Man Booker International Prize.
Tokarczuk's main works include 'The Journey of the Book-People,' 'Primeval and Other Times,' 'Playing on Many Drums,' 'Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead,' 'The Books of Jacob,' and 'Flights,' for which she won the Man Booker International Prize.
Nike, Poland's top literary prize, was awarded to Tokarczuk in 2008 for 'Flights' and in 2015 for 'The Book of Jacob.'
It is the first Nobel Prize for Literature to be won by a Polish writer for 23 years and the fifth in all. Previously, Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska received the distinction in 1996. Earlier, the Nobel Prize for Literature went to Polish writers Henryk Sienkiewicz in 1905 and Wladyslaw Reymont in 1924, and to poet, prose writer and translator Czeslaw Milosz in 1980. (PAP)
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