6th November, 18:00, British Library, Foyle Suite, British Library Conservation Centre

Author Jacek Dukaj will discuss his novel Ice in this in-conversation event with the book’s translator Ursula Phillips, chaired by author and professor Stanley Bill.

Ice is a Trans-Siberian odyssey through political, criminal, scientific, philosophical and amorous intrigues, and into an endless winter to confront something utterly alien which turns out to be the catalyst for a new industrial and scientific revolution. At the heart of it lies Siberia – the ‘Wild East’, a magnet for all fevers shaking the world at the dawn of the 20th century, the crucible where black physics, shamanic lore and the cold logic of winter combine. Ice won numerous awards in Poland and in other countries. Its English translation is published by Head of Zeus in November 2025.

Jacek Dukaj

Jacek Dukaj published his first story at the age of 16 and has gone on to publish numerous novels, novellas, short stories, and essays.

His works have been translated into nineteen languages. A short animated movie by Tomasz Baginski based on his novella ‘Katedra’ (‘The Cathedral’) was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003. The Netflix series Into the Night was based on his novel Starość aksolotla (The Old Axolotl). Dukaj has won a European Literary Award and a Kościelski Award. He lives in Krakow. His Ice, translated by Ursula Phillips, is out from Head of Zeus.

Dukaj studied philosophy at the Jagiellonian University. He is known for the complexity of his books, and it has often been said that a single short story by Dukaj contains more ideas than many writers put into all their books in their lifetime. The themes frequent in his works include technological singularity, philosophy of history, limits of language and humanity, and thus his books can often be classified as hard science fiction. Dukaj’s books bear some resemblance to Neal Stephenson’s writing, however his stylistic brio makes him as much a ‘literary’ as a ‘hard science fiction’ writer – allowing comparisons with books by Thomas Pynchon or David Mitchell. His essays touch on subjects like ‘engineering the meaning of life’, ‘art in the age of artificial intelligence’, consequences of shift to non-symbolic communication and thought, relationships between values and technology – drawing frequent comparisons to work of Yuval Noah Harari.

His books and short stories have been translated into 19 languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Slovakian, Ukrainian, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian and Albanian.

Ursula Phillips

Ursula Phillips is an award-winning British translator of Polish literary and academic works and a writer on Polish literary history.

Stanley Bill

Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge.

To find out more and buy tickets, see HERE

Tickets £12, (Concessions available)

Photo of Jacek Dukaj by Gracjan Donarski