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Olga Tokarczuk

オルガ・トカルチュク

Oruga Tokaruchuku

Aliases: Olga Nawoja Tokarczuk

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1962-01-29 (Sulechów, Poland)
Nationality
Polish
Languages
Polish
Residence History
Sulechów → Klenica → Kietrz → Wrocław → Wałbrzych → Krajanów and Wrocław

Career

Occupations
Writer, psychologist, screenwriter, activist
Active Years
1989-2024
Affiliations
Krytyka Polityczna
Memberships
Vice President of PEN International
Influenced By
Carl Jung
Influenced
Next generation of Polish writers

Education

University of Warsaw
Faculty of Psychology / Clinical Psychology
Degree: MA
Period: 1980-1985
Year of Graduation: 1985
Country: Poland
Master's in clinical psychology

Awards

Nobel Prize in Literature
2019
Organization: Swedish Academy
Result: winner
Man Booker International Prize
2018
Work: Flights
Organization: Man Booker Prize Foundation
Result: winner
Nike Award
2008
Work: Flights
Organization: Nike Literary Award
Result: winner
Nike Award
2015
Work: The Books of Jacob
Organization: Nike Literary Award
Result: winner
Vilenica Prize
2013
Result: winner
Brückepreis
2015
Result: winner
Jan Michalski Prize
2018
Work: The Books of Jacob
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

O. Henry Award 1 appearances
  1. Work: Seams

    A story that traces connection and rupture through labor, craft, or kinship.

    A story that traces connection and rupture through labor, craft, or kinship.

    short storyrelationshipsmemory

Works

Major Works

Primeval and Other Times

1996 Novel

A mythical chronicle of lives in the fictional village of Primeval over eight decades starting from World War I.

mythcrossing boundariesnature

Flights

2007 Novel

A patchwork of essays and fiction exploring modern nomadism, travel psychology, time, and space.

travelboundariesidentity

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

2009 Novel

An eccentric woman in Poland's Kłodzko Valley investigates murders of hunters, believing animals seek revenge.

animal rightsecologyastrology
Adaptations
  • [Film] Spoor / Agnieszka Holland (2017)

The Books of Jacob

2014 Novel

Epic novel about 18th-century Polish-Jewish mystic Jacob Frank, spanning borders, languages, and religions.

religioncrossing boundariesmulticulturalism

Bibliography

  • Cities in Mirrors
  • The Journey of the Book-People
  • E.E.
  • Primeval and Other Times
  • House of Day, House of Night
  • Flights
  • Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
  • The Books of Jacob
  • The Empusium

Adaptations

  • Spoor (film, 2017, dir. Agnieszka Holland)

Translations of Works

  • Translated into nearly 40 languages

Style & Themes

Literary Style
mythical tonemagic realismconstellation novelencyclopedic passion
Recurring Motifs
crossing boundariesnomadismmulticulturalismJungian psychology

Legacy

One of the most acclaimed Polish authors of her generation, awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. Works translated into nearly 40 languages.

In Popular Culture

  • Minor planet 555468 Tokarczuk named after her

Quotes

  • The Tender Narrator (Nobel Lecture excerpt on literature's power).
    Source: Nobel Lecture 'The Tender Narrator' (2019)

Trivia

  • Vegetarian
  • Grandmother of Ukrainian origin
  • Father was member of Polish United Workers' Party
  • Known for dreadlocks
  • Founded Olga Tokarczuk Foundation