Acclaimed translator Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota wins top award for Yiddish translation
Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota, translator of Lamed Shapiro’s short story collection Wylej swój gniew (Pour Out Your Wrath), has been honored with a prestigious award from “Literatura na Świecie” magazine. The prize recognises her work as the best prose translation into Polish published in the past year. The book was released by Workshops of Culture in Lublin.
About the Book and Author
Translated from Yiddish, Wylej swój gniew introduces Polish readers to the distinguished, yet previously little-known, prose of Lamed Shapiro. Born in Ukraine, Shapiro began his literary path in Warsaw before moving to New York and Los Angeles. His powerful stories explore the agonizing themes of Jewish pogroms and complex neighborly relations, alongside universal human experiences like love and loneliness.
About the Translator
Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota is a highly respected writer, columnist, and philosopher who translates from French, Russian, and Yiddish. She has an extensive background in academia and archival work, including at the Jewish Historical Institute. Her dedication to dialogue and literature has been recognized with multiple honors, including the Fr. Stanisław Musiał Award (2016) and the Jan Karski and Pola Nireńska Prize (2018).
About the Award and Publisher
The annual “Literatura na Świecie” awards have been given since 1972 to celebrate the best literary translations into Polish. The jury reviewed this year’s nominations on September 25.
The “Zaktowiczone” (“Anchored”) series is a publishing line launched in 2021 by Workshops of Culture in Lublin. It was created to address and interpret new realities—specifically, the disintegration of communities, shifting human connections, changes in daily life, and the redefinition of geopolitics.
The series focuses on literature that questions familiar frameworks and interprets contemporary transformations. It features works by Polish authors alongside translations from Yiddish, English, and soon French.
Key Titles in the “Anchored” Series:
- Wylej swój gniew (Pour Out Your Wrath) by Lamed Shapiro (translated from Yiddish by Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota).
- Wyzwolenie by Józef Łobodowski.
- Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky (translated by Anna Łazar).
- Goodnight, World – a selection of poems by Jacob Glatstein (translated from Yiddish by Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota and Monika Adamczyk-Grabowska).
Workshops of Culture publishing house
Founded in 2014, Workshops of Culture is a small, niche publisher with a primary focus on the literature and culture of Central and Eastern Europe.
- Catalogue: publications include ambitious, lesser-known prose, bilingual poetry editions, essays, comics, and children’s books.
- Authors: feature writers from countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.
- Recognition: The publishing house has received significant recognition, with its titles repeatedly nominated for the Angelus Central European Literature Award—the most prestigious distinction for translated prose in Poland. They won the Angelus Award in 2021 for “Nikt tak nie tańczył jak mój dziadek” (My grandfather danced the best) by Kateryna Babkina
