Led by: Monika Ochędowska

When did Eichmedien become Nakomiady? When Rastenburg became the town of Rastembork, and when did it became Kętrzyn? Carlshof turned into Karolewo? And Groß Stürlack into Sterławki?

The novel “Toń” describes the fates of a few generations of a family originating from former East Prussia, where for centuries Polish, Mazurian, German, and Lithuanian identities have mixed. The story of grandma Janka, Gudrun who is an aristocrat and her beloved Max, a German surgeon, aunt Gertraud, the son of Janka: Wolf, and finally Alicja, the youngest of the family, an anthropologist who has to face the decision of selling her family house which is full of memories and marked by mystery. We follow the fates of the heroes beginning with the times of the Second World War, the downfall of Königsberg and Rastenburg, the Soviet invasion, Communist Poland, up until contemporary times, in which there is a new refugee crisis.

Ishbel Szatrawska – a Krakow-based writer, author of theater plays, among them “The Life and Death of Mr. Hersh Libkin from Sacramento, CA” which was nominated to the Paszport Polityki award. “Toń” (published by Wydawnictwo Cyranka) is her first novel.

Partners: Krakowskie Biuro Festiwalowe, Wydawnictwo Cyranka
Organized by: Krakow UNESCO City of Literature

In Polish. Free admission.