New Literature from Poland

In 1989 the "Iron Curtain" ideologically separating Easten Europe and the Western world was lifted. But since 1989 a new cultural curtain has been unveiled. As a result many in the Western world, including Canada, are completely unaware of the new literature emerging from the former "Eastern Bloc".  InPoland, for instance, many young writers have appeared on the literary scene. Several of these writers are explaining the world beyond eastern Europe, for example Katarzyna Wezyk, who sees Canada as a "post-national" state because of its progressive policies around refugees, the environment and its social safety net, Natasha Goerke, Wojciech Jagielski, Artur Domaslowski, Wojciech Tochman, Przymowich Szcztrek. These writers address universal problems of our time, such as poverty, exclusion, hunger and exploitation. Other writers like Adrzej Stasiuk, Olga Tokarczuk, Doronto Maslowska, Paulina Wilk, and Magdalena Tulli focus more on specifically eastern issues. All these writers exhibit innovative approaches to language and literary form. A rich new tradition of eastern European literature is exploding but if you visit your local library in the GTA, as I did in Mississauga,
you will find only a few and then often not their most recent works.