Poland’s first democratic First Lady and wife of Lech Wałęsa begins touring Portugal with her newly released autobiography. The Portuguese edition of the book bears the title Sonhos e segredos, and is the first translation of Ms. Wałęsa’s book into a foreign language
The former first lady is scheduled to meet with Portuguese readers in Lisbon on the 13th of November. Accompanying Ms. Wałęsa for the promotional evening is Maria Barroso, wife of Mario Soaresa, Portugal’s president in the years from 1986 to 1996, and Manuela Ferreire Leite, the former Portuguese minister of finance.
Of her book, Ms. Wałęsa said:
I was not expecting that the first request for a translation of my book would come from so distant a country. I was thinking that an English or French version would come out first. (…) I have things worthy of sharing with others. I lived during a very interesting time of Polish history and I wanted to transmit my memories, addressing them to the younger generation in particular.
The autobiography of Danuta Wałęsa was edited by Piotr Adamowicz and released in 2011 by the the publisher Wydawnictwo Literackie. With 350,000 copies sold to date, it has enjoyed an enthusiastic reception among Polish readers.
In an interview with Zita Seabra in Life magazine, the president of Aletheia Editora, the Portuguse publisher of Wałęsa’s memoirs, said:
We are counting on a huge interest from the Portuguese readers. We decided to publish the book of Lech Wałęsa’s wife because of its success in Poland. And this autobiography of a former first lady is a very authentic account of contemporary Polish history.
Aletheia Editora decided to publish 1400 copies of Sonhos e segredos. The company specialises in contemporary history and political writing, and have published authors including Nick Cohen, Paul Johnson, George Weigel and Timothy Garton Ash.
Danuta Wałęsa’s visit to Portugal is financed by the Jeronimo Martins company, which owns the franchise brand of Poland’s popular Biedronka grocery stores. The company also co-financed the publication of her book in Portugal. Sonhos e segredos is to be first sold in the 360 Pingo Doce supermarket chain, which is owned by Jeronimo Martins. After two weeks, the book will be distributed to book stores across Portugal.
On Wednesday the 14th of November, Danuta Wałęsa meets with Polish residents in the city of Belem, with a similiar meeting scheduled in Sintra on the following day.
Source: PAP