Wojciech Pestka

Wojciech Pestka, whose career spans writing, translating, and the occasional foray into poetry, comes from a background in mathematics. Circumstances led him to become a farmer, but it was his choice to pursue a career in literature. Pestka has been honoured with several prestigious awards, including the decoration of Honour Meritorious for Polish Culture, the medal For Faithfulness to the Poet’s Message awarded by the Ukrainian Culture Foundation, and the bronze Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture.

Pestka’s literary contributions are varied and substantial, including reportage volumes such as “See You in Hell” (Warsaw 2009, reissued in Krakow 2019), “If Poles Weren’t Polish” (Krakow 2019), and “The Devil’s Sewing Machine” (Krakow 2020). His work also spans a biographical sketch “How Little… Rev. Józef Gacki (1805–1876)” (Radom 2012), a collection of short stories “Ballad of a Razor Blade” (Warsaw 2009), novels like “Tell Yours” (Krakow 2013) and “My Husband, the Loser” (Krakow 2017), as well as poetry collections “Ordinary Conversation” (Częstochowa 1976), “Ten Poems for Grosz” (Lublin 2005), “Walking the Line – Мандрівка линвою” (with Anna Bagriana, Lviv 2008), and “Hysteria” (Krakow 2017). Additionally, he co-authored the screenplay for the feature film “Klecha,” based on his novel “Tell Yours,” which focuses on the events of June 1976 in Radom.

In his role as a translator, Pestka has made Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian works accessible to Polish readers, translating the works of distinguished authors such as Anna Bagriana, Vasyl Slapchuk, Serhiy Zhadan, Ales Navarovich, and Vyacheslav Kupriyanov. His creative achievements have earned him several awards, including the Bolesław Prus Literary Award, the Hryhoriy Skovoroda International Literary Award (Ukraine), and the Nikolai Gogol International Literary Award (Ukraine).