"Poetry Summons Us to Life": A Conversation with Adam Zagajewski (Interview‪)‬

Interviewer's introduction Adam Zagajewski is one of Poland's most respected contemporary poets. Born in Lviv/Lwow in 1945, he first came into prominence as the poet of the "generation of 1968," or the New Wave (Nowa fala). His translated poetry includes A Defense of Ardor (2004), Without End (2002), Mysticism for Beginners (1997), Canvas (1991), and Tremor (1985). All of these except Canvas (translated by Renata Gorczynski, Benjamin Ivry, and C. K. Williams) were translated by Clare Cavanagh. Zagajewski is also the author of a book of essays, Another Beauty translated by Clare Cavanagh (2000), as well as two prose collections, Two Cities (1995) and Solitude and Solidarity (1990) translated by Lillian Vallee. Among the honors he has received are a fellowship from the Berliner Kunstlerprogramm, the Kurt Tucholsky Prize, Prix de la Liberte, Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Since 1988 he has lectured as a Visiting Associate Professor of English in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston. He is coeditor of Zeszyty Literackie, a Polish literary review published in Paris.