We invite fans of the still little-known genre of space crime fiction to the Brussels Book Fair 2026, where Polish author Jakub Szamałek, nominated for Le Point’s European Crime Fiction Prize, will present his novel “La Station” (2025, Métailié).
Meetings with Jakub Szamałek and translator Kamil Barbarski at the 2026 Brussels Book Fair:
Sunday 29 March
Brussels Book Fair
Tour & Taxis, Avenue du Port 86C, Brussels
TALK:
14:00 – 14:55 – Peace Tested by International Rivalries
with Jakub Szamałek and Kamil Barbarski
in conversation with Nathalie Clautier
Place à l’Europe stage, Gare Maritime
SIGNING SESSIONS:
15:00 – 16:00 – Libraire Européenne stand, Gare Maritime
16:15 – 18:00 – Médias Diffusion (Belgium)
stand, Hall 1, no. 101
Free entry. Registration recommended.
“La Station”, grounded in rigorous scientific research, is a gripping tech thriller. The action unfolds 400 km above the Earth, on the International Space Station (ISS). Six people – four Americans and two Russians – are confined in a “steel tube the size of a bus”. Amid the screens, cables, and scientific equipment, where routine tasks – experiments, repairs, cleaning – structure daily life, one incident quickly spirals out of control.
Tensions rise between Russians and Americans, with the Chinese looming in the background. Personal ambition, rivalry, and politics threaten their shared survival. After a solar flare, an ammonia leak could destroy the station. Accident or sabotage?
Balancing a criminal investigation and looming catastrophe, Jakub Szamałek crafts a tightly controlled narrative of great psychological depth and sharp political resonance.
Jakub Szamałek on the book:
“As a Pole educated in the United Kingdom and now living in Canada, I believe I have a unique and insightful perspective on the recent history of Russian–American relations. With La Station, I wanted to create a novel that is both captivating and suspenseful, while also offering a deeper reflection on the politics and ethics of space exploration.
The International Space Station has fascinated me for years: a claustrophobic cluster of modules launched into orbit, where American and Russian crews must cooperate day after day in order to survive. I kept wondering: what would happen if the trust underpinning this partnership completely collapsed? At four hundred and eight kilometres above the Earth, no one can come to help you”.
Intense and relentless, La Station questions what truly draws us to the stars: the desire to explore the unknown, selfish ambition, or the instinct to flee the problems rooted on Earth?
This rich and multifaceted novel, slightly alternate-history in tone, is a breathless space-set closed-room drama, an exhausting psychological thriller, a well-documented scientific essay on the ISS, a thoughtful reflection on today’s geopolitical stakes, and a committed work of fiction that remains a sheer pleasure to read.”
Read the full review (in French): https://les-lectures-du-maki.blogspot.com/2025/10/la-station-jakub-szamalek.html
Watch the video prepared by the publisher: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPEkaU_DjJL
The book is also available in English, translated by Kasia Beresford.
Jakub Szamałek
Jakub Szamałek is a Polish crime writer and a Cambridge graduate. He is also a video game writer on titles such as The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077 and The Blood of Dawnwalker, and serves as Narrative Director at the Rebel Wolves studio. He is the author of two acclaimed trilogies: the Athenian trilogy and the Darknet trilogy, which explores the threats posed by the internet and new technologies. The latter has been translated into French by Kamil Barbarski and published by Éditions Métailié: Tu ne sais rien (Kimkolwiek jesteś), Quelqu’un te regarde (Cokolwiek wybierzesz), and Tout ce que tu veux (Co zasiejesz, to zbierzesz). For this trilogy, Szamałek and Barbarski received the 2024 European Crime Fiction Prize – High School Jury, and Jakub Szamałek was named among Eastern and Central Europe’s Young Leaders (New Europe 100) by the Res Publica Foundation.
Follow the author:
Website: www.jakubszamalek.com
Instagram (publisher): @editionsmetailie
Kamil Barbarski
Kamil Barbarski is a translator of Polish literature, as well as a writer and illustrator of Polish origin living in Paris. Born in Poland, he emigrated to France with his family at the age of 12. He studied microelectronics and worked in the mobile phone industry before devoting himself entirely to writing and translation in 2011. Barbarski has translated four novels by Szamałek, as well as works by other Polish authors across various genres, including Zygmunt Miłoszewski, Szczepan Twardoch, Wojciech Tochman, and Jakub Żulczyk. He teaches translation at INALCO (National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations) in Paris.
Nathalie Clautier
Author of the blog “Mes Lectures du Dimanche” (since 2017), where she shares her passion for crime fiction. She also collaborates with the podcast Un certain goût pour le noir (Club Sang – BePolar)
