Sylwia Chutnik travels across Germany with the latest German edition of her Pocket Atlas of Women, which takes the reader on a critically minded tour of Warsaw. The book describes an alternative history of the city, strolling through the capital while following in the footsteps of prominent women
Weibskram is the German title of Chutnik's debut book, recently published by the Vliegen Verlag GmbH, and the author begins her series of meetings with an evening at the Jazzclub Tonne in Dresden on the 14th of March.
Sylwia Chutnik then travels on to Jena, Berlin, Leipzig - where she participates in the Leipzig Book Fair, and Koln. During her stay in Germany, she takes part in numerous panel discussions, readings and talks with writers, journalists and artists from Germany, Ukraine, Belarus, and Greece.
Her Kieszonkowy atlas kobiet / Weibskram which was translated into German by Antje Ritter-Jasinska describes the fate of three generations of women and one man, who live in an old tenement house in Warsaw. An actively engaged feminist, Chutnik tells the stories of these characters in a seemingly delicate yet uncompromising way – the heroes of her book struggle against sexist stereotypes and an ever-present terror of consumerism. Chutnik has revealed her gift of observation and the witty style of her prose sketches an alternative history of Polish women. The author also attempts to portray the way in which children and elderly people are subject to the ruthless pressure of capitalist discourse.
Born in 1979, Sylwia Chutnik is a writer, journalist and cultural researcher who graduated from the Department of Gender Studies at Warsaw University. She is a laureate of the Dama Warszawy (Lady of Warsaw) competition in 2007, as well as a winner of the Wawoaktywni contest of 2008. She published the Kieszonkowy atlas kobiet in 2008, and this debut, nominated for the Nike Literary Award won Chutnik the ‘Passport’ prize of Polityka weekly. In 2009 Sylwia Chutnik was also presented with the Ashoka prize, the so-called social workers’-Noble and published her second book Dzidzia. The book was adapted for the stage in 2011, in a production entitled III Furies directed by Marcin Liber in Legnica. In 2011 Sylwia Chutnik also published Warszawa kobiet (Women’s Warsaw), a feminist vade mecum of the Polish capital. As a city-guide, Chutnik takes visitors to her own selected corners of the city, tracing the lives of prominent feminine figures who resided or worked in Warsaw.
Full schedule of Sylwia Chutnik’s meetings in Germany
- 14th of March, 2012, Dresden
7.30 pm
meeting with Sylwia Chutnik and Maria Martysiewicz,
followed by a concert of Beata Osytek and Agnieszka Szczepaniak
Jazzclub Tonne e.V., Königstraße 15, 01097 Dresden
www.jazzclubtonne.de
- 15th of March, 2012, Jena
7.00 pm
Sylwia Chutnik talks about Weibskram,
the talk is moderated by Thomas Schmidt Haus auf der Mauer (Großer Saal), Johannisplatz 26, 07743 Jena
- 16th of March, 2012, Berlin
7.00 pm
Sylwia Chutnik talks about Weibskram
buch|bund bookstore, Sanderstr. 8, 12047 Berlin-Neukölln
- 17th of March, 2012, Leipzig, Leipziger Buchmesse bookfair
2.00 pm
Seismographen. Zur Rolle der Schriftsteller / Seismographs. On the Role of a Writer
a reading and talk with the participation of Sylwia Chutnik, Yuryi Andrukhovych (Ukraine), Algird Bakharevitch (Belarus) moderated by Olaf Kühl Forum OstSüdOst, Halle 4, Stand E505
3.00 pm
Leipzig liest / Leipzig Reads
Kleine Sprachen - Große Literaturen: Vom Rande / Small languages - Great Literature: Voices from the Peripheries
Sylwia Chutnik, Christos Ikonomou (Greece), Monika Kompaníková (Slovakia) moderated by Jörg Plath Forum OstSüdOst, Halle 4, Stand E505
6.30 pm
Sylwia Chutnik and the actress Corinna Waldbauer read fragments of Weibskram, conducted by Benjamin Voelke
Polish Institue in Leipzig, Markt 10
- 18th of March, 2012, Köln, Lit.Cologne festival
8 pm
Sylwia Chutnik and Johanna Wokalek Proove Their Fantastic Sense of Women’s Stuff
readings of Weibskram fragments moderated by Olaf Kühl WDR, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal, Wallrafplatz, 50667 Köln
Source: www.polenplus.eu, leipzig.polnischekultur.de, www.culture.pl