John Crowley's LJ (RSS Feed)
06-19-2008, 04:03 PM
Too late for you to board a plane and get there -- it's over and I forgot to post about it -- but I am recently back from the Miedzynarodowy Festiwal Fantastyki (w Nidzicy, which in English is the International Festival of the Fantastic in Nidzica:
http://festiwal.solarisnet.pl/index.php
This was its 15th iteration of this fest, and held in a real castle, a Teutonic Knights establishment protecting what was once German land (the Grunwald) against resentful revanchist Slavic hordes -- I think I've got this right, haven't I, Konrad?
I was invited by my Polish publishers, Solaris, and my thanks are due to Ryszard Piasecki and Wojtek Sedenko, and above all to Konrad Walewski, who is translating all of Aegypt into Polish and saw to the appearance of Little, Big in a new improved translation.
L and I were able to see Warsaw a bit, and the beautiful Polish countryside, broad fields, black earth, like Ohio somewhat. L, always fascinated by lands and peoples, noticed something unfamiliar covering a field. What plant is that? After a moment's thought Wojtek answered "Crops." Konrad confessed to be being a city boy: he passed his English exams on names of plants and flowers without being always sure which ones the Polish words referred to. Well I can say "ash" and "harebell" and "hawkmoth" and "beach plum" and even toss them into a story, but would I recognize them?
(Original Post) (http://crowleycrow.livejournal.com/89887.html)
http://festiwal.solarisnet.pl/index.php
This was its 15th iteration of this fest, and held in a real castle, a Teutonic Knights establishment protecting what was once German land (the Grunwald) against resentful revanchist Slavic hordes -- I think I've got this right, haven't I, Konrad?
I was invited by my Polish publishers, Solaris, and my thanks are due to Ryszard Piasecki and Wojtek Sedenko, and above all to Konrad Walewski, who is translating all of Aegypt into Polish and saw to the appearance of Little, Big in a new improved translation.
L and I were able to see Warsaw a bit, and the beautiful Polish countryside, broad fields, black earth, like Ohio somewhat. L, always fascinated by lands and peoples, noticed something unfamiliar covering a field. What plant is that? After a moment's thought Wojtek answered "Crops." Konrad confessed to be being a city boy: he passed his English exams on names of plants and flowers without being always sure which ones the Polish words referred to. Well I can say "ash" and "harebell" and "hawkmoth" and "beach plum" and even toss them into a story, but would I recognize them?
(Original Post) (http://crowleycrow.livejournal.com/89887.html)