Wisława Szymborska Plaque
Kraków Artists: Writers and Poets
A commemorative plaque in the Old Town dedicated to Wisława Szymborska (1923-2012), poet, essayist and translator, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. She lived in Kraków from 1929, and made her debut here in 1945 in "Dziennik Polski" with the poem "I Am Looking for a Word". In 1953-1966 she headed the poetry section of the weekly "Życie Literackie", in which she also published, for many years, the column "Non-Required Reading". On the first anniversary of her death the exhibition "Szymborska's Drawer" opened in the Szołayski House.
History
Wisława Szymborska was born on 2 July 1923 in Prowent, now part of Kórnik. In 1929 her family moved to Kraków and settled in a tenement house they had bought at Radziwiłłowska Street 29. It is a three-storey apartment building from 1896 with a Neo-Renaissance façade, designed by Leopold Tlachna; the stairwell ceilings are decorated with paintings, and there is a stained-glass window above the gateway. The poet lived here from 1929 to 1948.
In Kraków she attended primary school and the Ursuline Sisters' secondary school; during the occupation she studied in secret classes and passed her school-leaving exams in 1941. From 1943 she worked as a railway clerk to avoid being deported for forced labour in the Reich. She made her debut in 1945 in the pages of "Dziennik Polski" with the poem "Szukam słowa" (I'm Looking for a Word), and published her first collection, "Dlatego żyjemy" (That's Why We Live), in 1952. From 1953 to 1966 she ran the poetry section of the weekly "Życie Literackie", where she later published her "Lektury nadobowiązkowe" (Non-required Reading) columns for many years. In 1996 she received the Nobel Prize in Literature. She died in Kraków on 1 February 2012.
The plaque commemorating the poet was unveiled on the façade of the tenement on 6 October 2017; it is the work of the sculptor Czesław Dźwigaj.
Did you know?
At the entrance to the Nowa Prowincja café, which Szymborska visited regularly, a Poetry Intercom has been running since March 2014 - you can use it to play a recording of the poet reading one of her own poems.