Jerzy Pilch

He attended Jagiellonian University in Krakow, graduating with a degree in Polish philology. Pilch gained recognition when, in 1989, he began writing a witty and satirical column for the Catholic weekly magazine Tygodnik Powszechny (based in Krakow). The same year, he received the Kościelski Award, one of the most prestigious Polish literary awards, for his novel Wyznania twórcy pokątnej literatury erotycznej (“Confessions of an author of illicit erotic literature”), an insider’s look at the arts in Krakow.

Pilch has published several novels since, including Spis cudzołożnic (“List of adulteresses”), and Inne rozkosze (His Current Woman), the only work to appear in English so far. In 1999, he left Krakow to write a weekly column in the Warsaw-based weekly Polityka. Pilch’s most successful book has been Pod Mocnym Aniołem (“Under the Mighty Angel”, 2000). The book received a NIKE Award in 2001, the most prestigious Polish literary award.

His works have been characterized as witty, satirical, and nostalgic, filled with grotesque portraits of characters and events. Pilch’s style has been compared to Milan Kundera and Bohumil Hrabal. His novels have been translated into many other languages, including English, Bulgarian, Dutch, French, Spanish, Russian, among others.