Teatr Gdynia Główna – Literackie Atelier
Plac Konstytucji 1, 81-354 Gdynia,
PKP Gdynia Główna Train Station (platform 1)
Friday, June 27, from 5 p.m.
Sunday, June 29, from 4 p.m.
During the extraordinary Literary Award days – on Friday, June 27 and Sunday, June 29 – the Emigration Museum in Gdynia invites you to the bottom level of the Gdynia Główna Train Station – to Gdynia Główna Theatre, where a unique Literary Atelier shall be brought to life. Every visitor will have a chance to listen to the radio plays created from the scripts awarded in the „Horizons of Freedom. Emigration – Perspectives” contest, as well to those that earned honorary mentions. The contest was produced by the Emigration Museum in Gdynia in co-operation with Polish Radio Theatre and Polish Radio Program 3.
MP3 players will be made available in the extraordinary interiors of the Gdynia Główna Theatre, containing the masterful productions of the scripts we received as part of our emigration themed contest. They not only present a plethora of various faces of modern day emigration of Poles, but also contain some stories of foreigners who found their new home in Poland. In the Emigration Museum of Gdynia kiosk, guests will find useful information about the institution and its projects. For all the aficionados of top quality literature, we have prepared a variety of bookmarkers featuring quotations by Polish emigrant writers.
Attention: admission to the Literary Atelier is subject to a special wristband issued by the organizers of the GDYNIA Literary Award. It also allows guests to participate in meetings with authors, and concerts. These wristbands are available in limited amount – please visit the Emigration Museum in Gdynia Facebook page, where we will begin to distribute them a week before the event.
About the „Horizons of Freedom. Emigration – Perspectives” contest
The „Horizons of Freedom. Emigration – Perspectives” contest was organized in 2013 by the Emigration Museum in Gdynia in co-operation with Polish Radio Theatre and Polish Radio Program 3. The jury – consisting of Janusz Kukuła, Head and Main Director of Polish Radio Theatre, Magdalena Jethon, Director of Polish Radio Program 3, Wojciech Pszoniak, distinguished theatre and film actor, Karolina Grabowicz-Matyjas, Director of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia, and Adam Kamiński, poet, prose writer, and literary critic – searched for works that would say something important about Poles living away from their homeland – not only about their environments and everyday problems, but also about the universal experience of emigration, about man’s confrontation with his own freedom, about chasing dreams and hopes. The scripts we received gave accounts of the most versatile faces and dimensions of emigration and it is precisely that versatility that convinced the jury to award additional honorable mentions to the authors of the scripts that completed the broad panorama sketched by the three winning texts. The authors themselves made sure to broaden the horizons too – they sent their scripts from Europe, United States of America or Australia, among others. All in all, we received almost 70 submissions.
GDYNIA Literary Award
Thanks to its unparalleled formula of distinguishing poets, prose writers, essayists, and translators in an equal way, the GDYNIA Literary Award quickly became an important and unique event in the Polish literary world. This year’s edition marks the debut of a new category: translation into Polish.
The GDYNIA Literary Award was called to life in 2006 by Wojciech Szczurek, President of Gdynia, in order to honor the extraordinary achievements of present Polish writers. It is awarded on a yearly basis to the authors of the best books published in the preceding year. The Award is a complex initiative of the City, directed at Polish writers and consumers of modern literature. The GDYNIA Literary Award continues to evolve and expand its scope of activity. Under the „GDYNIA” brand, organizers not only present awards, but also offer many social initiatives that stimulate reading in general.