On the occasion of the Brussels Book Fair, the Polish Institute in Brussels has invited Andrzej Wolski and Jacek Woźniak, authors of the graphic novel “Moi, Gombrowicz”.

A documentary and feature film director based in France, Andrzej Wolski has produced around forty works for French television, the BBC and TVP, distinguishing himself with his historical and biographical portraits. Co-author, together with Agnieszka Holland, of the screenplay of the film Europa, Europa (nominated for an Oscar in 1992), he is also the author of numerous acclaimed films, including Culture Monthly (about the Maisons-Laffitte Institute), KOR, Czapski, Émissaires (on Jan Karski and Jan Nowak-Jeziorański), Moi, Gombrowicz and Jan Lebenstein, the latter awarded the Silver Lajkonik and several major international prizes.​

llustrator, painter and caricaturist, a native of Kraków, Jacek Woźniak embodies the legacy of exemplary resistance. Expelled from the Academy of Fine Arts for dissidence under communism, founder of the first independent satirical newspaper in Poland and an active supporter of Solidarność trade movement, which led to his arrest in 1981, he went into exile in Paris in 1982. A key contributor to Le Canard enchaîné since 1987, he covers cinema and politics, while also designing books, posters for the Council of Europe, album covers for Manu Chao and Archie Shepp, and visuals for the Philharmonie de Paris. Co-founder of Scorbut art collective. His exhibitions light up three continents.​

“Moi, Gombrowicz”
Andrzej Wolski and Jacek Woźniak
ed. Denoël Graphic

Conceived at the initiative of Rita Gombrowicz, widow of the eminent Polish novelist and playwright Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1969), this “dream biography” applies the principles of the provocative and taboo‑free literature of the author of Ferdydurke, Pornography, Cosmos, and Bakakai. A major figure in international literature, admired by his peers, he is often credited with a decisive influence on the revival of the absurd in times frozen by war. After his death, the young Rita devoted herself entirely to preserving his memory and perpetuating his work. Along the way, she began to dream of a “comic‑book Witold,” a model of the Eastern European writer confronted with revolutions and communism, condemned to exile, moving from opulence to poverty and experiencing profound solitude.

It took six decades before Andrzej Wolski and Jacek Woźniak—his compatriots and spiritual heirs—finally gave form to this dream. “If you manage to laugh at yourself,” he wrote, “to amuse yourself and rejoice in yourself, even when you are in the worst trouble, you are saved.”
A piece of advice that has once again become essential.

SIGNING SESSIONS: 

Friday, March 27
6:00–8:00 PM — Andrzej Wolski and Jacek Woźniak / Hall 3, stand 316

Saturday, March 28

12:00–1:00 PM — Andrzej Wolski and Jacek Woźniak / Libraire Européenne
2:00–4:00 PM — Andrzej Wolski and Jacek Woźniak / Hall 3, stand 316

AUTHOR’S TALKS:

Saturday, March 28
11:00–11:50 AM — Graphier le chaos et colorer l’absurde / Place à l’Europe

This meeting brings together Brecht Evens and Jacek Woźniak & Andrzej Wolski to explore worlds where inner life intertwines with external chaos. In The Medusa King as in “Moi, Gombrowicz,” the authors translate absurdity, anxiety, and resistance in the face of a world perceived as hostile, standing in opposition to dominant systems. These narratives portray subjectivities in struggle and show how, in comics, graphic research, textures, colors, and distortions become a true narrative device.

4:00–4:50 PM — “Moi, Gombrowicz” 
— Andrzej Wolski and Jacek Woźniak / Slumberland Space

Andrzej Wolski and Jacek Woźniak will lead a discussion about Gombrowicz, a major literary figure, and the narrative strategies used to tell and represent reality. Combining text and drawing, their book gives form to the absurd and to an unruly way of thinking that resists a world perceived as hostile.

During the fair, the exhibition “Moi, Gombrowicz”, inspired by the universe of the famous Polish writer and beautifully designed by Jacek Woźniak and Andrzej Wolski, will also be presented.

Together, they invite the public to discover a “dreamlike biography” of Witold Gombrowicz.

Exhibition organized by the Polish Institute in Brussels

Brussels Book Fair
26–29 march 2026 from 10h to 19h
(Friday, 27 march from 10h à 21h)
Tour & Taxis, Avenue du Port 86C, Bruxelles
Free entry