The Language Land – an Essex Book Festival event
‘The Language Land’
With Anita Debska
Sat 3rd March 7.00pm
Wivenhoe Bookshop
An Essex Book Festival PLACE weekend event
This event includes a display of photographs, Polish music, free wine and Polish nibbles
Tickets £5
Available from Wivenhoe Bookshop
Proceeds to an international children’s book charity
To book call 01206 824050 or send us an email
In 2018 Poland will celebrate the centenary of its reunification as an independent state.
The Language-Land presents images of the Polish countryside in the words of nineteenth-century Polish writers accompanied by modern photographs of Polish landscapes, a personal selection on the part of translator and photographer.
The texts are presented in both Polish and in English translation, together with a commentary to guide the reader through the book. After Poland was partitioned by its neighbours in 1795 and disappeared from the map, the poets in exile created a ‘language-land’ from their native landscapes and writers still living in the territory of the former Republic recorded ongoing rural life and traditions. Thus the independent Polish state that came into being in 1918 inherited a strong sense of national identity and a rich literature.
The year in which modern Poland celebrates its centenary is a time of worldwide displacement of people for whom the creation and cherishing of a personal ‘language-land’ seems more than ever meaningful. The book is a tribute to the Polish writers in each partition, and to those forced into exile who preserved the sense of Polish identity and attachment to their country. It includes photographs of the Polish countryside and a commentary by the translator, whose own experience of the land and culture began six decades ago.
The Language Land is published by Wivenbooks Press, the Wivenhoe Bookshop imprint, and designed by Catherine Dodds.
To book call 01206 824050 or send us an email
