Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Hunter College
695 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065 Room B126

Watch the conversation here.

Feminist and queer voices are flourishing in the 2020s Polish literary scene, especially in independent publishing. Emerging from DIY practices and gaining recognition through major literary awards, feminist and queer authors create a new narrative landscape where literature, art, and activism intersect. How to create space for feminist and queer voices despite the conservative turn? And how can translation serve as a tool for community-building across borders? 

Join us for a discussion and reading with Maria Halber—editor and author of the award-winning novel Strużki [Trickle], the recipient of the Conrad Prize for best fiction debut; Aleksandra Kamińska—scholar and co-founder of the queer small press Girls and Queers to the Front; and Monika Zaleska—writer, translator, and literary scholar. Together, they will discuss the role of activism in literature, opposing mainstream narratives about minorities in Central Eastern Europe, making poetry and fiction political, bilingual publishing, and tracing the growing recognition of feminist and queer narratives in both Polish and American literature. 

Maria Halber is a poet, writer, and editor. She made her literary debut with the poetry collection Przejścia (Staromiejski Dom Kultury, 2020), followed by her first novel, Strużki (Cyranka, 2023), which received the Conrad Prize for best prose debut. A recipient of the Adam Włodek Scholarship from the Wisława Szymborska Foundation, she is also a part of the Girls and Queers to the Front initiative. Her work has been featured in Pismo, Dwutygodnik, Mały Format, and Wizje. She lives and works in Warsaw.

Aleksandra Kamińska, PhD, is a scholar, publisher, and activist based in Warsaw. She is a co-founder of the Girls and Queers to the Front initiative (@girlsandqueerstothefront). Since 2015, GQTTF has been creating space for queer and women artists, writers, and musicians by organizing workshops, concerts, performances, readings, and curating exhibitions. Kamińska’s research and artistic practices explore life narratives, girl as an identity category, and feminist modes of production. She is an assistant professor at the University of Warsaw. 

Monika Zaleska is a writer, translator, and PhD candidate at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. She holds an MFA from Brooklyn College, where she was fiction editor of The Brooklyn Review and taught in the English department. She now teaches Polish literature at Hunter College.