"Ambers of Literature"
The Literacka Restaurant & Wine Bar is a place that boasts a rich literary tradition and many symbolic contexts that make it an important point on the map of the literary life of the city on the Motlawa River.
The main idea behind the cyclical meetings of the 'Amber of Literature' series held in our restaurant is to promote the work of both local and guest authors (from both home and abroad). The idea is to create a space of literature open to all walks of life, between the local and the universal, around Baltic humanism, using Gdansk symbols and references, especially the meaning of the sea and amber.
The artistic curator of the "Literature Ambers" series is Dr Tomasz Snarski, poet, publicist, socio-cultural activist, lawyer and philosopher from Gdańsk.
Amber is one of the greatest treasures of Gdansk. For us, it is also literature. And our seat on Mariacka Street even obliges us to combine amber and literature. That is why at Literacka Wine & Bar we have prepared a new programme of literary meetings in the space of our city entitled "Amber of Literature". "Amber of literature", as part of which we will hold regular meetings with authors. The meetings will be open and we invite everyone who loves literature! We want the Literary Wine & Bar to be a lively place that integrates the creative community and promotes reading.
LITERARY MEETINGS - "AMBERS OF LITERATURE"
October 23th - „Autumn with literature in Italian"
The next meeting of the ‘Amber of Literature’ series is behind us. This time, in collaboration with the Ital-Gedania Foundation, we met with the beauty of literature in Italian. Our guest was Roberto M. Polce, an Italian journalist connected to Gdańsk, translator, guide, photographer, and author of many books devoted to Poland. We would like to thank Roberto M. Polce very much for a wonderful evening with Italian culture and literature, including stories of Polish-Italian intertwining.
On the occasion of our autumn meeting, we also presented the latest volume of poetry by Tomasz Snarski entitled. ‘Grovigli’, translated into Italian by Roberto M. Polce.
The meeting was traditionally graced with a concert by the Ambra Duo, transporting us into the space of our beloved Italy. We are creating a true community of Gdansk literature!
June 20th, 2024 - ‘The beginning of summer with Miłosz’
On June 20th "Ambers of Literature" started the summer with Miłosz. The series referred to three anniversaries related to our Nobel Prize winner. The year 2024 was established by a resolution of the Senate of the Republic of Poland as the Year of Czesław Miłosz, on the twentieth anniversary of his death. July will mark 90 years since the poet and prose writer graduated from university law studies. And this month marks 70 years since the creation of "Dolina Issa", one of his most famous novels. And it was fragments of the book showing the passions of the young protagonist, Tomasz, who gains knowledge about the world on his own, that largely filled Thursday's meeting. Readers: journalist and writer Gabriela Pewińska-Jaśniewicz and poet, lawyer and philosopher Tomasz Snarski, known to regular guests of amber meetings as the host. "Bursztyny" was also an opportunity to present lesser-known facts from the life of the Nobel Prize winner and to talk about the significance of his work today. The literary evening was enhanced by the musical performance of the AmbraDuo – Szymon Ciszewski (cello) and Radosław Klajna (accordion). photo Paweł Marcinko / KFP
March 20, 2024 - meeting with poets from Gdańsk on the occasion of World Poetry Day
This time we met with Gdańsk poets and poetesses on the occasion of World Poetry Day. Members of the Gdańsk Poets' Club and our wonderful guests presented their work: Krystyna Chwin (Krystyna Lars), Emma Popik, Adam Majewski, Kazimierz Nowosielski and Andrzej Fac. Traditionally, the AmbraDuo duo performed, the whole event was hosted by our artistic curator Tomasz Snarski, and unforgettable moments were captured in the lens of Paweł Marcinko of Kosycarz Foto Press.
November 24, 2023 - meeting with Etienne Lesage
We love literature, so we were very happy to have another literary meeting. Our guest was Etienne Lesage from Paris, a lawyer but also a literary man, a Renaissance man, editor-in-chief of the wonderful literary magazine Revue Litteraire du Barreau de Paris. We had the opportunity to talk about Parisian literary life, about opportunities for collaboration, and to present with us one of the last issues of this exceptional literary journal. This time we fished out a beautiful literary amber all the way from Paris!
October 18, 2023 - meeting with Tomasz Snarski.
The next meeting in the "Literature Ambers" series is behind us. This time, Tomasz Snarski (artistic curator of the literary project " Ambers of Literature" ) appeared as a guest.
Tomasz Snarski is a barrister, doctor of law, philosopher and author of three volumes of poetry: "Przezpatrzenia", "Werblista", "Żmuty". Since 2020, artistic director of the interdisciplinary festival 'Vilnius in Gdansk'. In 2022, he organised a project entitled. "Poetry that brings peace".
It was a special evening during which we heard not only well-known songs performed by the author, but also new, previously unpublished ones. We talked about words, places and people important to him. The conversation with the poet was moderated by Natalia Koralewska, a philosopher, cultural studies expert and Gedanist, and the evening was musically honoured by the AmbraDuo band.
September 13, 2023 - meeting with Krystyna Lenkowska
This time our guest was Krystyna Lenkowska, who came to us from Rzeszów. Poet, translator of Anglo-Saxon literature, English teacher.
She has published poems, prose fragments, translations, essays, notes and interviews in many literary magazines in Poland. Her poems have also appeared in the USA, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, India, Israel, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Mongolia, Romania, Slovakia, Taiwan.
The meeting was hosted by Tomasz Snarski and the evening was honored by the wonderful AmbraDuo duo.
16 sierpnia 2023 roku - spotkanie z Hanną Kosycarz
Our guest was Hanna Kosycarz, editor and owner of the Kosycarz Foto Press agency. During the meeting, we combined books, photographs and the history of Gdańsk, moving into the world of the most beautiful photo albums. We talked about the magic of photographs, stories frozen in frames and ordinary people who are their heroes. And all while looking at photographs from the well-known Fot. Kosycarz publishing series. Extraordinary Ordinary Photographs. The photographic meeting was honoured by the AmbraDuo duo and hosted by Tomasz Snarski.
July 4, 2023 - meeting with Romuald Mieczkowski
This time we met at a Gdansk-Vilnius poetry evening Our guest was Romuald Mieczkowski - poet, journalist, publicist, activist of the Polish community in Lithuania. In addition, he is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the literary quarterly 'Znad Wilia' and the organiser of the International Poetry Festival 'May on the Vilnia River', which has been held annually in Vilnius for thirty years. Romuald Mieczkowski is a member of the Polish Writers' Association, the Lithuanian Writers' Union and the International Poetry Group 'Magnus Ducatis Poesis'. It is worth mentioning that this year marks the beautiful jubilee of the 700th anniversary of Vilnius, as well as the silver 25th anniversary of the partnership between Gdansk and Vilnius. The event was hosted by our artistic curator Tomasz Snarski and traditionally
June 15, 2023 - meeting with Gabriela Szubstarska
It was a wonderful encounter with poetry! We celebrated with Gabriela Szubstarska the jubilee of 25 years of creative work. Gabriela Szubstarska is a poet, teacher, President of the Gdańsk Poets' Club, and organiser of many cultural events of regional and international character, to mention the recent Oliwa Poetry Days, of which we were a partner. The evening was honoured by a concert by the AmbraDuo duo, and Tomasz Snarski created an unforgettable atmosphere.
May 24, 2023 - meeting with Agata Lewandowski
This time our guest was Agata Lewandowski from Berlin, with whom we talked about Danzig in books and film, i.e. about Grass, Schlöndorff and Danzig's identity. The meeting will traditionally be honoured with a concert by the AmbraDuo duo. The event was partnered by the Poland-Germany Society in Gdańsk and hosted, as always, by our art curator Dr Tomasz Snarski
April 20, 2023 - meeting with the poetry group "Wrzesień"
The next meeting of the 'Amber of Literature' series is behind us. We talked about creativity and freedom, and above all, we recalled the achievements of the poetry group "September". The poetry group "Wrzesień" was founded in 1994 by the then students of UG: Wojciech Kullig, Tomasz Nakielski, Anna Żuchowska and Piotr Radzio. In addition to poetry, its members practised prose, journalism, music and other arts. They have influenced and continue to influence the artistic life of the Tricity.
The meeting was traditionally honored by a concert by AmbraDuo, led by the reliable Tomasz Snarski.
March 29, 2023 - meeting with Birutė Jonuškaitė
It was a beautiful Polish-Lithuanian evening with the best literature. Birutė Jonuškaitė is a poet, novelist and essayist. Since 2003, she has been the vice-president of the Lithuanian Writers' Union. She was the first in the reviving Lithuania to start translating the works of Czeslaw Milosz, about whom she wrote the book Our Poet (2012). She has published her poems and prose written in Polish in "Akcent", "Dekada Literacka" and "Topos", among others. She has received the Lithuanian literary award for the best prose work of the year six times. Jonuškaitė is the only Lithuanian woman from Poland who has become a well-known writer in Lithuania and abroad and continues to inspire an active Polish-Lithuanian literary dialogue.
We thank Birutė Jonuškaitė for taking us on a literary journey. We would also like to thank for the presence of the Vice-President of the City of Gdansk, Piotr Grzelak, and the patronage for our meeting given by the Lithuanian Consulate in Gdansk/ Lietuvos garbės konsulatas Gdanske.
As always, we were accompanied by a musical concert performed by the AmbraDuo duo: Szymon Ciszewski and Radosław Klajna, and the meeting was hosted by our artistic curator Tomasz Snarski.
February 23, 2023 - meeting with Anna Czerwińska - Rydl
Today, we have moved into the world of fairy tales, including those about prominent Danzigers and Danzigers. And all this thanks to Anna Czerwińska-Rydel, with whom we celebrated the 15th anniversary of her work.
Anna Czerwińska-Rydel is a member of the Polish Writers' Association and the Polish Section of the IBBY. She is the originator and creator of a series of biographical novels for children and young people about great characters. Among her works a special place is occupied by Gdańsk and its inhabitants. She is the author of, among others, Gdańsk Trilogy for children (three biographical stories about famous Gdańsk citizens), Gdańsk Trilogy 2 (three biographical stories about outstanding Gdańsk women) and Gdańsk Trilogy 3 (three biographical stories about great Gdańsk artists). Based on her book Heat-Cold. The Fahrenheit Riddle, a children's play directed by Michał Derlatka was created and premiered in 2013 at the Miniatura Theatre. She has received numerous literary awards and is also a Lady of the Order of the Smile.
We would like to thank Mrs. President Aleksandra Dulkiewicz for the beautiful congratulatory letter and the bouquet of roses. Musicians from AmbraDuo also performed, and the meeting was hosted by the reliable Tomasz Snarski.
January 12, 2023 - meeting with Emma Popik
Another wonderful literary evening as part of the 'Amber of Literature' is behind us. We hosted Emma Popik, a Gdańsk-based writer, translator and journalist. A graduate of Polish philology at the University of Gdansk. Author of short stories, novels, poetry, science fiction, detective stories and fairy tales for children. In many of her books there are Gdańsk motifs or their action takes place in Gdańsk. Among her many books, it is worth pointing out that the crime novel Złota ćma (Golden Moth), whose main motif is Gdańsk amber, was published in 2014. In turn, the plot of her novel Królowa Salwatora, published in 2019 by the Marpress publishing house, is set in the Gdańsk district of Biskupia Górka. The meeting was chaired by Dr Tomasz Snarski. We talked at length about the beauty of Danzig's literary motifs (and more).
