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Olga Nawoja Tokarczuk

オルガ・ナヴォヤ・トカルチュク

Olga Nawoja Tokarczuk

Pen Names: Natasza Borodin（Pseudonym used for two short stories published in a youth magazine in 1979）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1962-01-29 （Sulechów, Poland）
Nationality
Poland
Languages
Polish
Residence History
Krajanów (splits time between Krajanów and Wrocław) → Wrocław

Career

Occupations
Writer, Clinical psychologist, Screenwriter
Active Years
1989-
Affiliations
Editorial team of Krytyka Polityczna, Olga Tokarczuk Foundation, Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw (board of trustees)
Memberships
PEN International (appointed Vice President, 2025), Royal Society of Literature (International Writer, 2021)
Influenced By
Carl Jung, William Blake (poetry and symbolism)
Influenced

Education

University of Warsaw
Clinical Psychology / Department of Psychology
Degree: MA
Period: 1980–1985
Year of Graduation: 1985
Country: Poland
Volunteered in an asylum for adolescents with behavioural problems during studies

Awards

Nike Award
2008
Work: Flights
Organization: Nike Award (Gazeta Wyborcza)
Result: 受賞
Nike Award
2015
Work: The Books of Jacob
Organization: Nike Award (Gazeta Wyborcza)
Result: 受賞
Man Booker International Prize
2018
Work: Flights (translation by Jennifer Croft)
Organization: The Booker Prizes
Result: 受賞
Nobel Prize in Literature
2018
Organization: Swedish Academy
Result: 受賞
Jan Michalski Prize
2018
Work: The Books of Jacob
Organization: Fondation Jan Michalski
Result: 受賞
Prix Laure Bataillon
2019
Work: The Books of Jacob
Organization: French translation award (Prix Laure Bataillon)
Result: 受賞
Vilenica Prize
2013
Organization: Vilenica International Literary Festival
Result: 受賞
Brückepreis (Bridge Prize)
2015
Organization: Cities of Zgorzelec / Görlitz
Result: 受賞
Europese Literatuurprijs (European Literature Prize)
2024
Work: The Empusium
Organization: Letterenfonds / Dutch literary fund
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Primeval and Other Times (Prawiek i inne czasy)

1996 Novel / Magic realism

Set in the fictional village of Primeval, the book chronicles the lives of its inhabitants across decades, blending history and myth in an epic, archetypal narrative.

communitytime and memorymyth
Translations
  • English translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Flights (Bieguni)

2007 Long-form fragmentary prose (travel/nomadism theme)

A patchwork of stories and essays exploring modern nomads, the psychology of travel and how movement shapes identity.

travelthe body in motionidentity
Translations
  • English translation by Jennifer Croft (contributed to Man Booker International Prize win)

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych)

2009 Existential noir / social satire

Set in a rural valley, an eccentric older woman interprets a series of murders through astrology and Blakean poetry; the novel probes human-animal relations and moral responsibility.

animal ethicsjustice and revengesocial critique
Adaptations
  • [Film] Spoor / Agnieszka Holland (2017)
Translations
  • English translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

The Books of Jacob (Księgi Jakubowe)

2014 Historical novel / epic

An expansive historical epic following Jacob Frank and the Frankist movement across languages and religions in 18th-century Eastern Europe, confronting sectarianism and intolerance.

religion and heresymulticulturalism and multilingualismreinterpreting history
Translations
  • English translation by Jennifer Croft (2021/2022)

The Empusium (Empuzjon)

2022 Horror / uncanny fiction (with satirical elements)

A health-resort horror story inspired by Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain that interrogates misogyny and the limits of human comprehension.

misogynylimits of understandingcollective psychology
Translations
  • English translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (2024)

Bibliography

  • Miasto w lustrach — poetry (1989)
  • Podróż ludzi Księgi — debut novel (1993)
  • E.E. — novel (1995)
  • Prawiek i inne czasy — novel (1996)
  • House of Day, House of Night — novel (1998)
  • Bieguni (Flights) — novel (2007)
  • Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead — novel (2009)
  • Księgi Jakubowe (The Books of Jacob) — novel (2014)
  • Empuzjon (The Empusium) — novel (2022)

Adaptations

  • Film 'Spoor' — based on Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, directed by Agnieszka Holland (2017)
  • Stage adaptation by Complicité of Drive Your Plow... (2022)

Translations of Works

  • Bieguni → English translation by Jennifer Croft (Flights, 2018)
  • Księgi Jakubowe → English translation by Jennifer Croft (The Books of Jacob, 2021/2022)
  • Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych → English translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (2019)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
mythical and parable-like tonefragmentary (constellation) structurenarrative with essayistic and intellectual insertions
Recurring Motifs
travel and movementborders (national, cultural, religious)animals and naturemyth and symbolism

Legacy

Tokarczuk is one of contemporary Poland's foremost international authors, translated into about 40 languages. Her Nobel Prize solidified her global reputation; through festivals and her foundation she supports young writers and cultural exchange.

Museums

  • Olga Tokarczuk Foundation (Karpowicz Villa) Wrocław (Karpowicz Villa planned seat) / activities across Poland Opened in 2020

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Literature (International Writer)

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptation 'Spoor' (2017) won festival awards and brought wider attention
  • Co-founder/co-host of the Literary Heights Festival, influencing regional cultural life

Quotes

  • “Narrative imagination can represent the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.”
    Source: Nobel Lecture 'The Tender Narrator', 2019 (2019)

Trivia

  • She is a vegetarian.
  • Donated 10% of her Nobel Prize money to the Olga Tokarczuk Foundation.
  • Published two short stories in 1979 under the pseudonym Natasza Borodin.
  • Her residence in the borderland village Krajanów and its natural surroundings frequently influence her work.