One of the most acclaimed Polish writers, Mikołaj Łoziński, will be one of the guests at the most important literary event in Israel – the International Writers Festival in Jerusalem. The author will visit Israel as part of the promotion of the Hebrew translation of his novel Stramer, published by Carmel Publishing House. The translator, Rina Bodankin, is a laureate of the second edition of the translation workshops organized by the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv in 2022. The workshops, led by Miriam Borenstein – one of the most prominent translators of Polish literature into Hebrew – were created to support aspiring translators at the beginning of their careers.

May 22 (Thursday), 8:30 PM

The event with Mikołaj Łoziński will be moderated by Israeli cultural journalist and literary critic Shiri Lev-Ari.

Address: Mishkenot Sha’ananim, 4 Yemin Moshe Street, Jerusalem

Djanogly Hall

Event in English

For ticket reservations 

Purchase the novel Stramer (official Carmel Publishing website)

Mikołaj Łoziński (born 1980 in Warsaw) is a renowned Polish writer, photographer, and screenwriter. His two novels The Book and Reisefieber have been translated into multiple languages and have received prestigious literary awards in Poland.

The novel Stramer was published in Poland in 2019 and has achieved international success. The book tells the story of the Jewish Stramer family in interwar Tarnów. As in many Polish cities and towns, in 1921 Jews made up 42% of Tarnów’s population, most of whom belonged to the lower social classes. The novel follows the family’s fate against the backdrop of political events and social changes, culminating in the Nazi occupation of the city.

In an interview with New York Times following the publication of his semi-autobiographical novel The Book (2011), Łoziński said that working on it helped him understand how Judaism had influenced his family: “I started to feel how important these Jewish roots are to me. I think it’s much easier for my generation than it was for my parents’ generation,” he said.

Stramer is also based on the author’s family history – his grandfather lived in Tarnów at the exact address where the fictional family from the book resides, and his surname was Stramer. “The word ‘Stramer’ means ‘strong,’” Łoziński explained in one of the interviews. “I’ve always liked that name. It disappeared after World War II, along with almost the entire Jewish world. Thanks to this book, it returns and remains. Even antisemites contributed positively to the creation of this novel,” he added.

Stramer was named Book of the Year in Poland by the weekly Polityka and the literary magazine Książki. It was also a finalist for the Angelus Central European Literary Award and was nominated for the Nike Literary Award in 2020.

The translation rights to Łoziński’s novel have been acquired by publishers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Iran, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The English edition of the novel, titled My Name is Stramer, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (known for translating works by Olga Tokarczuk, among others), is set to be published in the UK in August 2025.