Never before published in the United Kingdom, an English version of Szymborska’s ‘The Acrobat’, translated by Clare Cavanagh, is being released by Faber Books on July 16th 2026.

These intimate, immediate poems were written during the precarious years of Soviet occupation in Poland. Rooted in the pains and joys of the everyday, they ask us what it means to live out our lives amid global conflict and its aftermath. Underlying Szymborska’s work is a continual sense of astonishment at having survived, as well as the disbelief and delight that life goes on – that the acrobat’s hands have caught the trapeze.

Featuring Szymborska’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech as an afterword.

Find out more and Buy the Book HERE.