October 5, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Minnesota Jewish Community Center
1375 St. Paul Ave. St. Paul, MN 55116

October 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The Yiddish Book Center
1021 West St. Amherst, MA 01002

Acclaimed Polish author and photographer Mikołaj Grynberg will present his powerful work at events in Minneapolis, MN and Amherst, MA, featuring screenings of his short documentary film Proof of Identity, followed by literary conversations featuring translator Sean Gasper Bye.

Grynberg is widely recognized for his deeply human portraits of Jewish life in postwar and contemporary Poland. His books, including I’d Like to Say Sorry, But There’s No One to Say Sorry To and Confidential, blend documentary, fiction, and oral history to explore memory, trauma, identity, and the legacy of the Holocaust. His work has been translated into multiple languages and continues to spark international dialogue about history, belonging, and reconciliation.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to engage with one of Poland’s most compelling contemporary voices.

Mikołaj Grynberg is a photographer, psychologist, and writer of fiction and nonfiction. He is the author of Survivors of the 20th Century, I Accuse Auschwitz, and The Book of Exodus as well as I’d Like to Say Sorry, but There’s No One to Say Sorry To and Confidential, both translated by Sean Gasper Bye (The New Press). Grynberg graduated with a degree in psychology. He was born on 21st June 1966 in Warsaw. He started out as a photojournalist, but quite quickly decided to take up studio photography instead and switched to medium format. In 2004 he started the project Many Women. The first exhibition of the series took place in 2005 in Luksfera Gallery. Grynberg, however, did not stop there – in subsequent years, he kept on photographing women he met all around the world. In the same year, Grynberg started his cycle Auschwitz, What Am I Doing Here? that was presented as an exhibition at Pauza Gallery and Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in 2010. In 2012, the project was displayed at the Swedish Parliament. Pauza Foundation and Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum published the series as an album in 2010. In 2012, Grynberg debuted as an author, publishing the book Ocaleni z XX Wieku (Survivors of the 20th Century, trans. NS). The book comprises of 25 interviews with Polish Jews that immigrated to Israel. As Grynberg himself wrote, he intended his work to be a counterbalance to the scientific narratives about the Holocaust and the relations between Poles and Jews. Grynberg’s next book, Oskarżam Auschwitz: Opowieści Rodzinne (I Blame Auschwitz: Family Stories, trans. NS) is a collection of interviews, too. This time, the author decided to look for children of people who survived the Holocaust. People who talk to Grynberg have lived lives that were overshadowed by the trauma. His interlocutors speak mostly of suffering, constant anxiety and sorrow. In 2017, the author published Rejwach (Uproar, trans. NS). Rejwach was nominated for the prestigious Nike Literary Award in 2018. The book was staged in 2018 in the Jewish Theatre in Warsaw. In 2018, Grynberg published the non-fiction book Księga Wyjścia (Exodus, trans. NS), another collection of interviews. He talked to Jews who were forced to leave Poland in March 1968, when the communist government organized an anti-Semitic hate campaign. In 2020, Grynberg published Poufne (Confidential, trans. NS), a fiction book inspired by the lives of the author’s closest family.

Sean Gasper Bye is an award-winning translator of Polish literature and the Director of Membership and Development of the American Literary Translators Association. His translation of Conversations with an Executioner by Kazimierz Moczarski is forthcoming in 2026 from Steerforth Press.

The Minnesota Polish Medical Society brings together the region’s Polish-American professionals in the medical and scientific fields to foster an appreciation of contemporary Polish-American scientific advancements, ideas, and culture. They support select Polish events, including educational and cultural activities focusing on the Polish-American perspective.

The Minnesota JCC creates a wide range of opportunities for people to connect, grow and learn through meaningful programs that enrich Jewish life, build Jewish identity and strengthen our community. Their programs include early childhood education, summer camps, health & wellness, recreation, youth & teen programming, adult programs, inclusion, senior supportive services, Jewish arts, culture & enrichment, special events and more.

The Yiddish Book Center recovers, preserves, teaches, and celebrates Yiddish literature and culture to advance a fuller understanding of Jewish history and identity. Over the span of 45 years, the Center has launched an extensive array of bibliographic, educational, and cultural initiatives and programs.

Presented by the Minnesota Polish Medical Society (MPMS), the Minnesota Jewish Community Center, the Yiddish Book Center and Polish Cultural Institute New York.