{"id":18524,"date":"2025-10-02T15:24:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?p=18524"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:38:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:38:57","slug":"bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Talk: Needle\u2019s Eye by Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Thursday, November 20 at 7:00 PM&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;8:00 PM<\/strong><br>Center for Brooklyn History<br>128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn, NY 11201<br>Please, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bklynlibrary.org\/calendar\/bill-johnston-and-will-center-for-brooklyn-20251120-0700pm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">RSVP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:59px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Join us at the Center for Brooklyn History for an evening with translator Bill Johnston and Will Chancellor, novelist and critic, as they discuss Johnston\u2019s translation of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/archipelagobooks.org\/book\/needles-eye\/\"><em><strong>Needle\u2019s Eye<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, the latest novel by renowned Polish author <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/instytutksiazki.pl\/en\/polish-literature,8,authors-index,26,wieslaw-mysliwski,141.html\">Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski<\/a><\/strong>. A lyrical, nonlinear meditation on memory, time, and history,&nbsp;<em>Needle\u2019s Eye<\/em>&nbsp;blends autobiography and fiction to reflect on a half-century of Polish life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The book is the third one published by Archipelago Books, New York first and second being Stone<strong><em> <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/archipelagobooks.org\/book\/stone-upon-stone\/\"><em>Upon Stone<\/em><\/a><\/strong> (<em>Kamie\u0144 na kamieniu<\/em>), trans. Bill Johnston (2011) and&nbsp;<em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/archipelagobooks.org\/book\/treatise-on-shelling-beans-a\/\">A Treatise on Shelling Beans<\/a><\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(<em>Traktat o \u0142uskaniu fasoli<\/em>), trans. Bill Johnston (2013).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Season 3, Episode 10 of <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/10\/07\/wieslaw-mysliwski-with-bill-johnston\/\">Encounters with Polish Literature<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, we explore the work of Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski with translator Bill Johnston, focusing on <em>Stone Upon Stone<\/em> and his latest novel, <em>Needle\u2019s Eye<\/em>\u2014his most experimental narrative to date, set for English release next year by Archipelago Books. The episode delves into My\u015bliwski\u2019s signature blend of philosophical reflection and everyday life under communism, as well as the translation process and collaboration with both the author and publisher Jill Schoolman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:26px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"841\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/AP_NeedlesEye_Cover_Cover_Nov26_SENT-841x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18526\" style=\"width:241px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/AP_NeedlesEye_Cover_Cover_Nov26_SENT-841x1024.jpg 841w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/AP_NeedlesEye_Cover_Cover_Nov26_SENT-246x300.jpg 246w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/AP_NeedlesEye_Cover_Cover_Nov26_SENT-768x935.jpg 768w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/AP_NeedlesEye_Cover_Cover_Nov26_SENT-1262x1536.jpg 1262w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/AP_NeedlesEye_Cover_Cover_Nov26_SENT-1682x2048.jpg 1682w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/AP_NeedlesEye_Cover_Cover_Nov26_SENT.jpg 1725w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 841px) 100vw, 841px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&nbsp; <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:26px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the book: <\/strong>In a Polish village, a young man watches an old man trip and fall down a flight of stairs. From this singular event arises a cascade of memories, regrets, and longings: the buried sensations of a whole lifetime, condensed and released. We hear of life during occupation, the scarcities of a childhood lived under the sign of war\u2014and fragments of a home\u2019s sounds and scents (the private speech of mothers and fathers, the treasures of coffee, raisins, almonds, and plums). There are loves unrequited and fulfilled, landscapes of winter and spring, old jobs and old friends, all flowing together.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski\u2019s latest novel is a personal epic written on the smallest scale. Its narrator, a medieval historian in his latter years, lives surrounded by images of the past. From within this wandering mind, My\u015bliwski has composed his own ode to lost time, a nonlinear, chameleonic meditation on a half-century of Polish life as it does not appear in the historical record. Part autobiography, part dreambook,&nbsp;<em>Needle\u2019s Eye<\/em>&nbsp;is both a writer\u2019s farewell to the Poland of his youth and an extended address, like the final lecture prepared by its narrator, on the persistence and necessity of memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/url-14-300x200-300x300-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18554\" style=\"width:258px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/url-14-300x200-300x300-1.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/url-14-300x200-300x300-1-150x150.jpeg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the author:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/archipelagobooks.org\/book_author\/mysliwski-wieslaw\/\">Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski<\/a>&nbsp;is the only writer to have twice received the Nike Prize, Poland\u2019s most prestigious literary award: in 1997 for his novel&nbsp;<em>Horizon&nbsp;<\/em>and again in 2007 for<em>&nbsp;A Treatise on Shelling Beans<\/em>. He worked as an editor at the People\u2019s Publishing Cooperative and at the magazines&nbsp;<em>Regiony<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Sycyna<\/em>. In addition to the Nike Prize, My\u015bliwski has received the Stanis\u0142aw Pietak Prize, the Arts Ministry Prize, the State Prize, the Reymont Prize, the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award, and the Golden Sceptre Award. In Polish literature, Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski is considered a representative of the peasant current, although his works significantly transcend this category. Moral and existential themes, along with his characters\u2019 distinct sense of responsibility for themselves and others, place his prose and drama among universal parables about the complex nature of the world and the unpredictability of human fate. The writer\u2019s pen has given the contemporary Polish countryside expression, and its inhabitants\u2014dignity, character, and a touch of magic. To learn more, read <em><a href=\"https:\/\/lareviewofbooks.org\/article\/novels-wieslaw-mysliwski\/\">The Novels of Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski&nbsp;<\/a><\/em>by Sam Munson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/11.20.2025-Bill-Johnston.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18530\" style=\"width:268px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/11.20.2025-Bill-Johnston.jpg 768w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/11.20.2025-Bill-Johnston-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/11.20.2025-Bill-Johnston-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bill Johnston<\/strong>&nbsp;received the 2019 National Translation Award in Poetry for his rendering of Adam Mickiewicz\u2019s epic narrative poem in rhyming couplets&nbsp;<em>Pan Tadeusz<\/em>&nbsp;(Archipelago Books, 2018). He translates from Polish and French; his recent translations have included work by Julia Fiedorczuk, Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski, Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, and Jeanne Benameur. His other honors include the PEN Translation Prize, the Best Translated Book Award for Fiction, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches literary translation at Indiana University.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/11.20.2025-Will-Chancellor.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18531\" style=\"width:266px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/11.20.2025-Will-Chancellor.jpg 400w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/11.20.2025-Will-Chancellor-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/11.20.2025-Will-Chancellor-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Author of the novel&nbsp;<em>A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tal<\/em>l&nbsp;(Harper Perennial, 2014),&nbsp;<strong>Will Chancellor<\/strong>&nbsp;is currently writing an alternate history of the Soviet space program titled<em>&nbsp;The Meaning of Certain Dreams<\/em>. He edits fiction at the&nbsp;<em>Brooklyn Rail<\/em>. His writing has appeared in&nbsp;<em>Bookforum,&nbsp;Lit Hub,&nbsp;The New York Times Magazine,&nbsp;Interview,&nbsp;Electric Literature,&nbsp;The White Review,&nbsp;<\/em>and<em>&nbsp;The New York Times<\/em>. He recently wrote on the Brazilian painter Lucas Arruda for David Zwirner books (Lucas Arruda: Deserto-Modelo).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>This event is co-sponsored by Archipelago Books, Brooklyn Public Library, the Polish Cultural Institute, and The Brooklyn Rail. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"638\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/Your-paragraph-text-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/Your-paragraph-text-1.png 638w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/Your-paragraph-text-1-300x50.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 638px) 100vw, 638px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday, November 20 at 7:00 PM&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;8:00 PMCenter for Brooklyn History128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn, NY 11201Please, RSVP Join us at the Center for Brooklyn History for an evening with translator Bill Johnston and Will Chancellor, novelist and critic, as they discuss Johnston\u2019s translation of&nbsp;Needle\u2019s Eye, the latest novel by renowned Polish author Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski. A lyrical, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":18890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-literature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Book Talk: Needle\u2019s Eye by Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pl_PL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Talk: Needle\u2019s Eye by Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thursday, November 20 at 7:00 PM&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;8:00 PMCenter for Brooklyn History128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn, NY 11201Please, RSVP Join us at the Center for Brooklyn History for an evening with translator Bill Johnston and Will Chancellor, novelist and critic, as they discuss Johnston\u2019s translation of&nbsp;Needle\u2019s Eye, the latest novel by renowned Polish author Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski. A lyrical, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-02T13:24:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-24T19:38:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1-1024x925.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"925\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"stypulkowskaa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Napisane przez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"stypulkowskaa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Szacowany czas czytania\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minut\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"event\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/\",\"name\":\"Book Talk: Needle\u2019s Eye by Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1-300x271.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1-1024x925.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1.png\"],\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-02T13:24:15+02:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-24T19:38:57+02:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/\"]}],\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"startDate\":\"2025-11-20\",\"endDate\":\"2025-11-20\",\"eventStatus\":\"EventScheduled\",\"eventAttendanceMode\":\"OfflineEventAttendanceMode\",\"location\":{\"@type\":\"place\",\"name\":\"\",\"address\":\"\",\"geo\":{\"@type\":\"GeoCoordinates\",\"latitude\":\"\",\"longitude\":\"\"}},\"description\":\"Thursday, November 20 at 7:00 PM \u2013 8:00 PMCenter for Brooklyn History128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn, NY 11201Please, RSVP\\nJoin us at the Center for Brooklyn History for an evening with translator Bill Johnston and Will Chancellor, novelist and critic, as they discuss Johnston\u2019s translation of Needle\u2019s Eye, the latest novel by renowned Polish author Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski. A lyrical, nonlinear meditation on memory, time, and history, Needle\u2019s Eye blends autobiography and fiction to reflect on a half-century of Polish life.\\nThe book is the third one published by Archipelago Books, New York first and second being Stone Upon Stone (Kamie\u0144 na kamieniu), trans. Bill Johnston (2011) and A Treatise on Shelling Beans (Traktat o \u0142uskaniu fasoli), trans. Bill Johnston (2013).\\nIn Season 3, Episode 10 of Encounters with Polish Literature, we explore the work of Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski with translator Bill Johnston, focusing on Stone Upon Stone and his latest novel, Needle\u2019s Eye\u2014his most experimental narrative to date, set for English release next year by Archipelago Books. The episode delves into My\u015bliwski\u2019s signature blend of philosophical reflection and everyday life under communism, as well as the translation process and collaboration with both the author and publisher Jill Schoolman.\\nAbout the book: In a Polish village, a young man watches an old man trip and fall down a flight of stairs. From this singular event arises a cascade of memories, regrets, and longings: the buried sensations of a whole lifetime, condensed and released. We hear of life during occupation, the scarcities of a childhood lived under the sign of war\u2014and fragments of a home\u2019s sounds and scents (the private speech of mothers and fathers, the treasures of coffee, raisins, almonds, and plums). There are loves unrequited and fulfilled, landscapes of winter and spring, old jobs and old friends, all flowing together.  \\nWies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski\u2019s latest novel is a personal epic written on the smallest scale. Its narrator, a medieval historian in his latter years, lives surrounded by images of the past. From within this wandering mind, My\u015bliwski has composed his own ode to lost time, a nonlinear, chameleonic meditation on a half-century of Polish life as it does not appear in the historical record. Part autobiography, part dreambook, Needle\u2019s Eye is both a writer\u2019s farewell to the Poland of his youth and an extended address, like the final lecture prepared by its narrator, on the persistence and necessity of memory. \\nAbout the author: Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski is the only writer to have twice received the Nike Prize, Poland\u2019s most prestigious literary award: in 1997 for his novel Horizon and again in 2007 for A Treatise on Shelling Beans. He worked as an editor at the People\u2019s Publishing Cooperative and at the magazines Regiony and Sycyna. In addition to the Nike Prize, My\u015bliwski has received the Stanis\u0142aw Pietak Prize, the Arts Ministry Prize, the State Prize, the Reymont Prize, the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award, and the Golden Sceptre Award. In Polish literature, Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski is considered a representative of the peasant current, although his works significantly transcend this category. Moral and existential themes, along with his characters\u2019 distinct sense of responsibility for themselves and others, place his prose and drama among universal parables about the complex nature of the world and the unpredictability of human fate. The writer\u2019s pen has given the contemporary Polish countryside expression, and its inhabitants\u2014dignity, character, and a touch of magic. To learn more, read The Novels of Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski by Sam Munson.\\nBill Johnston received the 2019 National Translation Award in Poetry for his rendering of Adam Mickiewicz\u2019s epic narrative poem in rhyming couplets Pan Tadeusz (Archipelago Books, 2018). He translates from Polish and French; his recent translations have included work by Julia Fiedorczuk, Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski, Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, and Jeanne Benameur. His other honors include the PEN Translation Prize, the Best Translated Book Award for Fiction, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches literary translation at Indiana University. \\nAuthor of the novel A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall (Harper Perennial, 2014), Will Chancellor is currently writing an alternate history of the Soviet space program titled The Meaning of Certain Dreams. He edits fiction at the Brooklyn Rail. His writing has appeared in Bookforum, Lit Hub, The New York Times Magazine, Interview, Electric Literature, The White Review, and The New York Times. He recently wrote on the Brazilian painter Lucas Arruda for David Zwirner books (Lucas Arruda: Deserto-Modelo). \"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1735},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Book Talk: Needle\u2019s Eye by Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/\",\"name\":\"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\",\"description\":\"Instytuty Polskie\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1\",\"name\":\"stypulkowskaa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a29bb1802c91e057084d5d112dd59dc4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a29bb1802c91e057084d5d112dd59dc4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"stypulkowskaa\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/author\/stypulkowskaa-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Book Talk: Needle\u2019s Eye by Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/","og_locale":"pl_PL","og_type":"article","og_title":"Book Talk: Needle\u2019s Eye by Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","og_description":"Thursday, November 20 at 7:00 PM&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;8:00 PMCenter for Brooklyn History128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn, NY 11201Please, RSVP Join us at the Center for Brooklyn History for an evening with translator Bill Johnston and Will Chancellor, novelist and critic, as they discuss Johnston\u2019s translation of&nbsp;Needle\u2019s Eye, the latest novel by renowned Polish author Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski. A lyrical, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/","og_site_name":"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","article_published_time":"2025-10-02T13:24:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-24T19:38:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":925,"url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1-1024x925.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"stypulkowskaa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Napisane przez":"stypulkowskaa","Szacowany czas czytania":"6 minut"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"event","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/","name":"Book Talk: Needle\u2019s Eye by Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/#primaryimage"},"image":["https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1.png","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1-300x271.png","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1-1024x925.png","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1.png"],"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/thumbnail_Needles-Eye-event-1.png","datePublished":"2025-10-02T13:24:15+02:00","dateModified":"2025-11-24T19:38:57+02:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"pl-PL","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/10\/02\/bill-johnston-and-will-chancellor-discuss-needles-eye\/"]}],"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","startDate":"2025-11-20","endDate":"2025-11-20","eventStatus":"EventScheduled","eventAttendanceMode":"OfflineEventAttendanceMode","location":{"@type":"place","name":"","address":"","geo":{"@type":"GeoCoordinates","latitude":"","longitude":""}},"description":"Thursday, November 20 at 7:00 PM \u2013 8:00 PMCenter for Brooklyn History128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn, NY 11201Please, RSVP\nJoin us at the Center for Brooklyn History for an evening with translator Bill Johnston and Will Chancellor, novelist and critic, as they discuss Johnston\u2019s translation of Needle\u2019s Eye, the latest novel by renowned Polish author Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski. A lyrical, nonlinear meditation on memory, time, and history, Needle\u2019s Eye blends autobiography and fiction to reflect on a half-century of Polish life.\nThe book is the third one published by Archipelago Books, New York first and second being Stone Upon Stone (Kamie\u0144 na kamieniu), trans. Bill Johnston (2011) and A Treatise on Shelling Beans (Traktat o \u0142uskaniu fasoli), trans. Bill Johnston (2013).\nIn Season 3, Episode 10 of Encounters with Polish Literature, we explore the work of Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski with translator Bill Johnston, focusing on Stone Upon Stone and his latest novel, Needle\u2019s Eye\u2014his most experimental narrative to date, set for English release next year by Archipelago Books. The episode delves into My\u015bliwski\u2019s signature blend of philosophical reflection and everyday life under communism, as well as the translation process and collaboration with both the author and publisher Jill Schoolman.\nAbout the book: In a Polish village, a young man watches an old man trip and fall down a flight of stairs. From this singular event arises a cascade of memories, regrets, and longings: the buried sensations of a whole lifetime, condensed and released. We hear of life during occupation, the scarcities of a childhood lived under the sign of war\u2014and fragments of a home\u2019s sounds and scents (the private speech of mothers and fathers, the treasures of coffee, raisins, almonds, and plums). There are loves unrequited and fulfilled, landscapes of winter and spring, old jobs and old friends, all flowing together.  \nWies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski\u2019s latest novel is a personal epic written on the smallest scale. Its narrator, a medieval historian in his latter years, lives surrounded by images of the past. From within this wandering mind, My\u015bliwski has composed his own ode to lost time, a nonlinear, chameleonic meditation on a half-century of Polish life as it does not appear in the historical record. Part autobiography, part dreambook, Needle\u2019s Eye is both a writer\u2019s farewell to the Poland of his youth and an extended address, like the final lecture prepared by its narrator, on the persistence and necessity of memory. \nAbout the author: Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski is the only writer to have twice received the Nike Prize, Poland\u2019s most prestigious literary award: in 1997 for his novel Horizon and again in 2007 for A Treatise on Shelling Beans. He worked as an editor at the People\u2019s Publishing Cooperative and at the magazines Regiony and Sycyna. In addition to the Nike Prize, My\u015bliwski has received the Stanis\u0142aw Pietak Prize, the Arts Ministry Prize, the State Prize, the Reymont Prize, the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award, and the Golden Sceptre Award. In Polish literature, Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski is considered a representative of the peasant current, although his works significantly transcend this category. Moral and existential themes, along with his characters\u2019 distinct sense of responsibility for themselves and others, place his prose and drama among universal parables about the complex nature of the world and the unpredictability of human fate. The writer\u2019s pen has given the contemporary Polish countryside expression, and its inhabitants\u2014dignity, character, and a touch of magic. To learn more, read The Novels of Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski by Sam Munson.\nBill Johnston received the 2019 National Translation Award in Poetry for his rendering of Adam Mickiewicz\u2019s epic narrative poem in rhyming couplets Pan Tadeusz (Archipelago Books, 2018). He translates from Polish and French; his recent translations have included work by Julia Fiedorczuk, Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski, Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, and Jeanne Benameur. His other honors include the PEN Translation Prize, the Best Translated Book Award for Fiction, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches literary translation at Indiana University. \nAuthor of the novel A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall (Harper Perennial, 2014), Will Chancellor is currently writing an alternate history of the Soviet space program titled The Meaning of Certain Dreams. He edits fiction at the Brooklyn Rail. His writing has appeared in Bookforum, Lit Hub, The New York Times Magazine, Interview, Electric Literature, The White Review, and The New York Times. He recently wrote on the Brazilian painter Lucas Arruda for David Zwirner books (Lucas Arruda: Deserto-Modelo). 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