Have you heard of Olga Tokarczuk? This Nobel-winning author is unknown in Spain. However, since she received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2018, publishers have noticed her. However, not all the books he has written have reached Spain yet, and we have to settle for just a sample of his pen, which leaves all readers wanting more.
If you would like to get to know Olga Tokarczuk a little more closely, know who she is, how she writes and the books you can find about the writer, don't miss this article in which we have grouped all the available information about the writer.
Who is Olga Tokarczuk
First of all, you should get to know Olga Tokarczuk a little more thoroughly. This writer and essayist is of Polish origin. Actually his pen is not based only on novels, but has also made stage adaptations, poetry and even psychology.
He was born in Poland, specifically in Sulechadow, in 1962 and both his childhood and adolescence were spent in Kietrz, a rural town that borders Czechoslovakia (which was then that area). His studies were not related to literature, but rather he studied psychology at the University of Warsaw. In fact, while he was studying, he was working in various mental health clinics, a job he kept after graduating.
However, what combined with literature, and at the same time that he had a stable employment relationship, published his novels. Until his books gave him such popularity that he could do without work to dedicate himself exclusively to literature. Currently, he combines both the creation of his books and the holding of workshops and writing courses (he takes them at the Jangiellonian University of Krakow).
La Olga Tokarczuk's first story was launched in 1979 in Na przelaj magazine, youth audience. However, she did not do it with her real name, but instead looked for a pseudonym, and signed as Natasza Borodin.
It took several years for, in 1993, he released his first novel, The Journey of the Book Men, a story for which he received the Prize of the Polish Association of Book Publishers. Two years later, he published EE, a supernatural genre novel. In 1996, his third novel, In a place called yesteryear, received his second award, the Nike Literary Award Audience Award. From this, Olga Tokarczuk began to publish almost every year, being nominated or winning several awards for her stories. But the most important of all came to her in 2019, where it was announced that Olga Tokarczuk was the winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature (it was announced a year later due to internal problems in the organization).
His pen
Those who have read her work, not only the books in Spanish, but many of her other books, think of Tokarczuk that she is a writer with a literary style and 'original' imagination, It has nothing to do with other authors. In his books he is able to describe the characters not only physically, but also psychologically, approaching them in a way that seems to reel them in order to present them with their strengths and weaknesses to readers.
In addition, it offers tensions based on opposites: nature versus culture, reason versus madness ...
In the words of the author herself, "I narrate in such a free way that, I hope, it inspires the reader." And it is that what Olga Tokarczuk hopes is not to entertain the reader, but to give him a basis so that he himself can reflect on what has been raised in the novels.
Olga Tokarczuk's books
As we have mentioned before, in Spain not all of this author's books can be translated. In fact, there are very few translated, but in reality Olga Tokarczuk is prolific in terms of novels and stories. A list of all his books is as follows:
- The city in the mirrors (Miasto w lustrach) (1989) - poems.
- The journey of the men of the Book (Podróż ludzi Księgi) (1993).
- EE (1995)
- A place called yesteryear (Prawiek i unnecessary czasy), (1996).
- The wardrobe (Szafa), 1997.
- Daytime House, Nighttime House (Dom dzienny, dom nocny), 1998.
- Christmas Stories (Opowieści wigilijne) (2000) - together with Jerzy Pilch and Andrzej Stasiuk.
- The doll and the pearl (Lalka i perła) (2000).
- Concert of various drums (Gra na wielu bębenkach), 2001.
- Last Stories (Ostatnie historie), 2004.
- Anna In in the graves of the world (Anna In w grobowcach świata) (2006).
- Los errantes (Bieguni) (2007) - 2008 Nike Literary Award winning novel.
- On the bones of the dead (Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych) (2009).
- The moment of the bear (Moment niedźwiedzia) (2012), essays preceded by a foreword by Kinga Dunin.
- Jacob's Books (Księgi Jakubowe) (2014), historical novel winner of the 2015 Nike Literary Award.
- Lost soul (Zgubiona dusza), 2017.
- Bizarre tales (Opowiadania bizarne). Krakow, Literary Publishing, 2018.
Of all of them, the ones you can get in Spain in Spanish are the following:
On the bones of the dead
From the thriller genre, mixes a story full of mystery with the supernatural. In it you have as the protagonist an elderly woman, who lives alone in a small town and teaches English in a small school. However, the finding of a neighbor who appears with a roe deer bone stuck in his throat makes him interested in the case and believe that he can discover what is happening.
However, the police, as well as her own neighbors, see her as a "crazy old woman" and she will have to take action in order to lead to the resolution of the case.
The lost soul
In this illustrated book in which, with images that attract attention, the author offers short stories, stories with a moral (sometimes difficult to understand), and reflections that will make you wonder if really the life you lead is the one that really makes you happy.
The Wanderers
In this book by Olga Tokarczuk you are going to find a disparate world, actually several. As well as main characters; you will have a man who has lost his wife and son, a taxidermist or a woman who wants to see her first love again. But, in addition, there are references to other characters.
Those who have read it say that it is the best of the author.
Olga Tokarczuk: A place called Old
The last of Olga Tokarczuk's books that you can find in Spanish is this, A place called Antaño. Tell us the history of a town and the inhabitants who live in it. Wars, friendship, violence, betrayals and the passage of time makes the protagonists evolve, change and make the reader aware of these processes, as well as the feelings that govern people's lives.